Check out the latest images of China’s new fighter jet that has the military aviation experts in shock

New images have surfaced of China’s revolutionary tailless aircraft, a three-engined plane that Western eyes have called the J-36.

Video images first surfaced last year but new video footage was seen on Chinese social media on Monday, showing the curious craft flying above Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, where it is believed to have been made.

Former Italian Air Force officer and military aviation expert David Cenciotti wrote that “the trijet engine arrangement, with two engine intakes under the wings and a dorsally-mounted intake behind the cockpit, is a departure from conventional twin-engine setups seen in many contemporary fighters", adding that “this configuration may offer advantages in terms of thrust and redundancy.”

‘Nothing in the world comes even close to it’

Cenciotti said on his website ‘The Aviationist’ that “the aircraft’s underbelly appears to have space between the two landing gears, potentially housing internal weapons bays for large, long-range surface strike missiles" and CNN’s Brad Lendon echoed the feeling of potential with this aircraft, adding that “the J-36 could see China pull even with, or possibly ahead of, the United States in the race to field a sixth-generation fighter.”

At present, the US is the world leader in military aircraft, with their fifth-generation pair of F-22 and F-35 fighter jets solidifying their status. However, the fear is that with this sixth-generation development which goes one (or more) step further than their J-20 and J-35 models, China would indeed take the lead on the world stage.

The race to create the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft is well underway, with Donald Trump, despite criticism for going too deep too early, recently announced that Boeing have been flying their new F-47 for five years.

“At my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet, number six, sixth generation, nothing in the world comes even close to it, and it’ll be known as the F-47,” Trump said in a statement. “It’s something the likes of which nobody has seen before,” he added, “and this has been in the works for a long period of time.”

“This plane flies with drones”, he pointed out. “It flies with many, many drones, as many as you want. It’s a technology that’s new, but it doesn’t fly by itself. It flies with many drones, as many as you want, and that’s something that no other plane can do.”

But China are also moving quickly. The very same December day that footage of the J-36 was first seen, photos were also posted of another new tailless, twin-engine jet, dubbed the J-XX or the J-50. At the time of writing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China have not publicly acknowledged the existence of either model.

“From a development point of view, China appears to be determined to make explorations on next-generation aviation equipment,” Wang Ya’nan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, was quoted by CNN as saying.

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