Black or no, Chinese CCAs are on a verge of deployment, and S-70 is at least one year into combat trials.US high end CCA is entirely in the black as noted by Kratos and General Atomics on separate occasions. The only thing we know of these upper tiers effort is a release statement of Kratos Thanatos which completed first flight back in december 2024
Allegedly a 5th photo, posted by @RichardLiCHN on Twitter. Similar cautions apply.
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whatever the case is, it certainly looks much better than the 36. Wonder what all the "too heavy, 3 engine, has a dorsal intake so can't be a fighter" people will say now.Any chance this could be an alternative prototype developed in parallel for J-36? Perhaps they are testing different wing geometries / control surfaces and have yet to select a final design? Or could the J-36 that was revealed be more of an initial tech demonstrator and this is either an actual prototype or later tech demonstrator?
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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
Any hint WHERE this thing was seen?