China’s sixth-gen fighter jet takes to skies in landmark test flight PHOTO/VIDEO

Videos have emerged online showing what is believed to be China's new sixth-generation fighter jet flying for the first time, with a fifth-generation J-20 Mighty Dragon fighter acting as a chase plane.

This marks a significant milestone, potentially making China the second, or even the first, country to fly a sixth-generation fighter, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

🚨Çin’in gizli bir proje kapsamında geliştirdiği 6. nesil savaş uçağı, ilk uçuşunu gerçekleştirdi. pic.twitter.com/E9ObItyS50

— 3. Dünya Savaşı (@ww3mediaa) December 26, 2024

While Northrop Grumman's B-21 Raider is claimed to be a sixth-generation combat aircraft, it is technically a strategic bomber, leaving the new Chinese jet as a potential leader in this category.

Unlike the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia, who tend to be more open about their next-generation fighter programmes, China has remained secretive, with little known about its military advancements. However, in November 2024, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) unveiled a mock-up of the AVIC Baidi Type-B, a stealth fighter dubbed the "White Emperor" at the Zhuhai Airshow. It remains unclear whether the aircraft filmed in flight is the same one revealed in the display.

Reports have also surfaced claiming that the new fighter jet could potentially operate from space, though these assertions have been met with scepticism from analysts. Should the footage indeed show the first flight of China's sixth-generation fighter, it would represent a remarkable leap forward. For context, China's fifth-generation Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon first flew in 2011 and entered service in 2017, highlighting the rapid pace of China's military aviation development.

This development comes at a time when the United States Air Force is contemplating the cancellation of its own manned sixth-generation fighter jet programme, known as the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD).

It raises the possibility that China may not only be catching up with Western powers but could also be surpassing them in certain areas. The new aircraft features a tailless design with diamond-shaped wings, which aligns with renderings of U.S. sixth-generation designs, although its exact capabilities remain unknown.

Industry experts suggest that China’s sixth-generation fighter could enter service around 2035, coinciding with plans by both the U.S. and British navies to field their sixth-generation jets. The rapid progress seen in China’s military aviation development is a testament to its technological advancements, underscoring how far the country has come in outpacing Russia in many areas while narrowing the gap with the United States.

While the U.S. became the first to operate fifth-generation fighter jets in 2005 with the F-22 Raptor, Russia has faced challenges in developing its own fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57 Felon. Despite claims of its "low-observable" stealth, the Su-57 has struggled to enter mass production, with fewer than 20 units believed to have been completed.

The unveiling and potential deployment of China’s sixth-generation fighter will have significant implications for the ongoing Great Power Competition, particularly in the realm of air superiority.

By Aghakazim Guliyev