China offers further clues about plans for sixth-generation fighter planes
- Video released by Aviation Industry Corporation of China suggests jets will have a tailless, blended-wing design that analysts say will improve its stealth capability
- The country is racing against the US to be the first to develop a next-generation fighter
China has offered clues about its next-generation fighter jet with the release of computer-generated images that show a tailless design, which analysts believe will improve its stealth capability.
The images also suggested that the planes would have a blended-wing body, a fixed-wing design in which there is no clear division between the main body and the wing.
A model of a plane with a similar design went on show at the Zhuhai air show in November.
Detailed plans for China’s new fighter jets remain secret, but Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation analyst, told the nationalist tabloid Global Times that work had started on the next-generation fighter and designers were confident it would eventually outpace the United States.
The report also quoted unnamed analysts who said the tailless design and blended wing body would give the next-generation fighter jet superior stealth capability in all directions compared with the fifth-generation fighter, as well giving it a longer range and greater fuel efficiency.
