Mystery aircraft 4th August 2025: CCA vs other

[Deino]

carrier-based manned 6gen,
convertible wing at retracted position:

View attachment 157323

Come on and stop this nonsense! We have just a few blurry pixels and you claim it is whatever the hell?
Why not finally proof the supersonic-capable revised H-20 appeared!?? IMO it would be more likely to conclude than a "carrier-based manned 6gen, convertible wing at retracted position"!

We really need a facepalm emoji!

 

[cft4201]

Come on and stop this nonsense! We have just a few blurry pixels and you claim it is whatever the hell?
Why not finally proof the supersonic-capable revised H-20 appeared!?? IMO it would be more likely to conclude than a "carrier-based manned 6gen, convertible wing at retracted position"!

We really need a facepalm emoji!

It does remind me of what was proposed for the H-20. There's still a chance that it can be a UAV though.

There are two protrusions above the fuselage that almost resemble vertical tails.

 

[GTI]

It does remind me of what was proposed for the H-20. There's still a chance that it can be a UAV though.

There are two protrusions above the fuselage that almost resemble vertical tails.

These are clearly not the same aircraft.

There is the cranked kite from today, and then for some reason sutton999 decided to post a picture from a week or two ago — which is clearly a flying wing with some kind of trailing edge protrusions (or tails).

The 2 are absolutely not related and clearly different aircraft (and also clearly not even a variable geometry carrier-based fighter in the flying wing that sutton999 posted).

 

[donnnage99]

Interesting theory and indeed not unlikely given how often we have been fooled recently!

By the way, could it be that "X" is down right now?

the trailing edges not aligned for stealth reason, the outline of the frontal section blurs alot more than the seemingly unnaturally clear trailing edge. I'm leaning towards fake.

If real, it might even be refined version of j-36 which means j-36 we'd seen has been flying for quite sometime and brought out recently to beat the deadline of celebrating the ccp anniversary. Now we see a more refined version making maiden flight.

This isn't unprecedented, as Turkey KAAN 1st prototype (0) is said to differ alot from the 2nd prototype in the making.

 

[cft4201]

the trailing edges not aligned for stealth reason, the outline of the frontal section blurs alot more than the seemingly unnaturally clear trailing edge. I'm leaning towards fake.

If real, it might even be refined version of j-36 which means j-36 we'd seen has been flying for quite sometime and brought out recently to beat the deadline of celebrating the ccp anniversary. Now we see a more refined version making maiden flight.

This isn't unprecedented, as Turkey KAAN 1st prototype (0) is said to differ alot from the 2nd prototype in the making.

It would be somewhat weird for the successor of 36 (011) to be so different though. The change from J-20 (2001) to (2011) was big but for the successors the changes in aerodynamics was miniscule.

 

[mack8]

Just putting more gas on the fire, at least the planform suggest this is closest to the VG carrier fighter, but... some time ago there was a rumour about big changes which some may and some may not like on the 6th gens or maybe just J-36. What if this is what we're looking at? What if the J-36 is the demonstrator but this is the real deal? Of course this raises more questions as to the whole timing of the Chengdu/Shenyang demonstrators/prototypes, f.e. did the J-36 flew well before 2024, is it actually what we saw in the sat pics back in 2021? Again, this is just speculation.

Overall, for now the two most likely possibilities seem either the 6th gen VG carrier fighter prototype/demonstrator or a high end CCA.

 

[REautomaton]

If this is indeed a high-end CCA, then judging by its size alone, I have to say AVIC's engineering capabilities are absolutely next-level.

 

[by78]

Here's that mystery airframe again.

EDIT: The foliage in the foreground matches a previous image, but the aircraft itself looks more like the J-36, which could indicate previous images have been manipulated.

 

[Maikeru]

Here's that mystery airframe again.

That looks like just the OG J-36.

 

[cft4201]

Here's that mystery airframe again.

So I guess we can rule out photoshop at this point.

I wonder which AVIC subsidiary is developing it though...