What We Know About China’s New 6th Gen Aircraft

On December 26th, 2024, China unveiled the first of three 6th generation aircraft, the final one taking flight on January 3rd, 2025. From what we saw from videos taken from the ground of these aircraft, there seems to be two fighter jets, and one bomber. We will be breaking down what we can infer so far of these aircraft and discussing how the U.S will respond. 

But before we get into the aircraft, what is a 6th generation aircraft? Aircraft are broken into generations to classify the major leaps in technological development in the aircraft. 1st generation fighters were built in the 1940’s-50’s, these apply to the first ever jets, mostly built during, and after World War 2. An example of a 1st generation aircraft includes the Messerschmitt 262, which is widely considered to be the first ever fighter jet we know of. 4th and 5th generation fighter jets are widely used across the world, these aircraft include F-15 Eagle, F-16 Viper, F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, F-14 Tomcat and much more.

Messerschmitt 262 taken from the National Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio

The reason China’s new aircraft is such a news breaker is because up until now there has only been one 6th generation aircraft, the U.S B-21 Raider, a stealthy long range bomber. But no 6th generation fighters from what we see. 

Here’s what we know about the first new aircraft so far; The first to take flight on December 26th, seemed to be a stealth fighter of some sorts, with three air intakes, hinting at three engines. During the flight, the aircraft was escorted by the J-20 Mighty Dragon, Chinese 5th gen aircraft, which in no means is a small aircraft, being 70 feet in length, and yet this new aircraft was still much bigger than the J-20, giving us a peek as to how big this aircraft is. Furthermore, the aircraft has the number 36011 on its side, hence people are naming this new aircraft the J-36. 

Artist Rendition of the J-36 

The next aircraft was unveiled the next day on December 27th, 2024. Unfortunately there is significantly less footage of this next aircraft, however, just from what we can see it too looks purpose for stealth.

The final aircraft was revealed on January 3rd, 2025. Thankfully, information about this aircraft has been revealed fully. This aircraft is the H-20, a mid range subsonic stealth bomber, as revealed by the U.S. Department of Defense. This isn’t the first time we have seen the H-20, it was teased in a Chinese Air Force advertisement underneath a white cloth, similar to how the American B-2 Spirit was revealed. 

B-2 Spirit (Left) and B-21 Raider (Right)

H-20 Test flight, Jan. 3rd.

How will the U.S. respond? Most likely, the U.S. will contract big aircraft manufacturers to create more 6th generation fighters. The U.S. already has the B-21 Raider, which is considered the world’s first 6th generation aircraft, but has no capabilities similar to any fighter. We might see the return of fighter jet concepts previously scrapped. 

In the end, all we can do is theorize and speculate about how and when China will use these aircraft, and hopefully, we don’t engage in any conflict with them forcing them to utilize these new advanced fighters.