How Dangerous is China’s New 6th-Gen Stealth Fighter-Bomber?

By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior

Could China have built an unprecedented 6th-gen hybrid-type stealth fighter-bomber? There is certainly no shortage of speculation following the social media appearance of what looks like a Chinese 6th-generation attack aircraft. 

Images of the aircraft’s design surfaced on social media, showing glimpses of a new stealth aircraft’s shape, structure, and underneath areas being escorted by a Chengdu Air Corporation PLA Air Force J-20 stealth fighter. 

Interestingly, two Chinese 6th-generation aircraft models were captured on social media, described by Forbes magazine as a Chengdu design escorted by a J-20 and a “Shenyang type” flying alongside a “Sukhoi Su-27 clone.” 

U.S. NGAD Fighter. Artist Rendering.

Shenyang Aircraft

According to mysterious photographs emerging on social media, the Shenyang aircraft appeared similar to previously released defense industry renderings of the US Next-Generation Air Dominance 6th-gen aircraft.

The Shenyang aircraft also looks like 6th-generation images of a new Chinese aircraft released by the Chinese state-owned Global Times newspaper. This 6th-gen rendering, published by the Global Times several years ago, was written about in Warrior Maven in an essay in February of 2023. This image of a 6th-gen fighter published in the Chinese paper looked similar to previously published defense industry renderings of the US Air Force’s 6th-gen NGAD.