I know most people are leaning toward unmanned CCA but the resemblence is just uncanny with this underside view.
Chinese UCAV/CCA/flying wing drones (ISR, A2A, A2G) thread
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I know most people are leaning toward unmanned CCA but the resemblence is just uncanny with this underside view.
It's from a patent awarded to Northwestern Polytechnical University
Well, if the similarity is this high, I’m starting to suspect this might just be a Photoshop job. The angle is way too coincidental.
It could also be that the patent was actually related to a real active project like that Hongdu patent with the twin tails and stuff that turned out to be the actual JL-XX albeit with some modifications.
Either way, I don’t think a 6th-gen fighter with VG wings is feasible. Maybe this is a further development of a rejected design (possibly repurposed for UAVs)—that would explain why we’re seeing a publicly disclosed patent for its appearance.
Recall that the news of China developing and flying not just one, but TWO separate 6th-generation manned warplanes (referred as 6th-gen fighters from here on) breaking out in the span of a single day is already stunning enough for pretty much every PLA watcher out there.
Besides, considering that the J-36 and J-XDS are developed by Chengdu AC and Shenyang AC respectively - It's only natural for people to assume that only these two fighters are to be developed (as Chengdu AC and Shenyang AC are the only ACs in China responsible for the development of fighter jets), with one (J-36) expected for the PLAAF and the other (J-XDS) expected for both the PLAAF and the PLAN.
Moreover, in retrospect, the 5th-gen fighters are already well-known to be expensive and challenging to develop and procure. Therefore, it is only normal for people to expect that countries everywhere won't be developing more than two 6th-gen fighters, as these fighters are certainly going to be more expensive and even more challenging to develop and procure.
Hence - IF this particular aircraft is eventually proven to be a brand-new model warplane (i.e. not just a misunderstood J-36) and is a manned platform, then this certainly will come as a major shock to the PLA-watching community, perhaps only rivaled by that certain historical day in December 2024.
But if that's not the case, and this particular aircraft is actually one of the high-tier CCA-type UCAVs - Then it's a much welcomed addition to China's future aerial warfare systems, too.
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Allegedly a 4th photo of said unidentified aircraft, likely screenshotted from a video. Posted by @kuanmengchan133 on Twitter.
Assuming that this isn't a PS-ed or CG-ed photograph, then this photo should be showing more details of the aircraft's underside.
Zooming in:
Assuming that this isn't a PS-ed or CG-ed photograph, then this photo should be showing more details of the aircraft's underside.
Zooming in:
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Allegedly a 5th photo, posted by @RichardLiCHN on Twitter. Similar cautions apply.
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Honestly this last image (and its crop) looks very wonky, the wings do not seem to be in proportion to each other.