China’s J-36 design team unveils aircraft carrier landing system for sixth-gen stealth jet

Chengdu engineers achieve uncanny precision in extreme weather with system that shares control with pilot, study said

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China’s sixth-generation stealth fighter jet, unofficially called the J-36, which made its first appearance in December. Photo: X / 醉美武功

Published: 12:00pm, 22 Apr 2025Updated: 5:26pm, 22 Apr 2025

The designers of China’s J-36 stealth fighter are working on a computer system that will help pilots achieve the difficult and dangerous manoeuvre of landing a sixth-generation jet on a moving aircraft carrier, according to a research paper.

The tri-engine, tailless flying-wing behemoth sent shock waves through global defence circles when it was spotted in December soaring over the megacity of Chengdu in southwest China.

Along with unprecedented stealth capabilities, the fighter – unofficially dubbed the J-36 in line with the naming convention for other Chinese military planes – boasts a blended fuselage design and enough power to potentially carry missiles for long-range strikes.

A paper published last month in China’s top aviation journal, the peer-reviewed Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, showed that the J-36 design team was in the early stages of making a naval variant suitable for use with the PLA Navy’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers.

Tao Chenggang, deputy chief designer of the AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, said in the paper that the risk to pilots trying to land a sixth-generation plane on a carrier was “extremely high”.

Carrier-based flying-wing aircraft face a critical challenge: their radical design, which eliminates traditional tail sections for stealth and aerodynamic efficiency, makes precise landings difficult.