🇨🇳🔰 Pentagon's Nightmare: China Advances Second Sixth-Generation Fighter Built For Scale China is pushing its second sixth-generation fighter deeper into flight testing, and its greatest advantage may be its ability to be fielded in large numbers. The twin-engine tailless aircraft developed by Shenyang, widely known by the unofficial designation J-50, has now been filmed operating at both low and high altitudes. It is roughly comparable in size to the J-20 and significantly smaller than China’s other next-generation prototype developed by Chengdu. 🔸 A smaller airframe is expected to make the Shenyang fighter considerably cheaper to produce and maintain than the much larger Chengdu design. That could make sixth-generation capabilities practical across far more frontline units. 🔸 Cost may prove as important as performance. Overruns on the F-22 and F-35 prevented the United States from replacing its older fighters as widely as planned, while the J-20’s cost-effectiveness has allowed China to procure it on a much larger scale. 🔸 The new fighter could provide a one-for-one replacement for older Chinese heavyweight aircraft such as the J-11B and Su-30MKK during the 2030s, rapidly transforming the composition of the PLA’s combat fleet. 🔸 The Shenyang and Chengdu prototypes are the only publicly observed tailless fighters currently in flight testing. Removing vertical tails reduces radar reflections but requires advanced software and distributed control surfaces to maintain stability and maneuverability. 🔸 Research associated with the Shenyang program has also explored flight-control technology for tailless aircraft operating from carriers. This raises the possibility that the fighter could eventually serve with both the PLA Air Force and Navy. China may therefore be building more than another elite aircraft for a limited number of squadrons. A smaller and more affordable sixth-generation fighter could be produced widely, replace existing heavyweights and potentially operate from Chinese carriers. The Pentagon would then face not a handful of experimental jets, but an entire force transitioning toward sixth-generation aircraft at scale. Could China field sixth-generation fighters on a scale the United States cannot match?