The Chengdu J-20 is a fifth-generation, stealth, twin-engine fighter aircraft prototype being developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Continue reading for two videos, more pictures, and additional information.
While no specific analysts have claimed the J-20 used stealth coatings from the 1999 F-117 downed over Serbia, analysts have noted that if Chinese designers used stealth coatings based on the F-117, the result would be decades behind current American state-of-the-art. However, Chinese test pilot Xu Yongling said that the J-20 was a masterpiece of home-grown innovation, and also noted the F-117 technology was already outdated even at the time it was shot down, and could not be applied to a next-generation stealth jet. Janes editor James Hardy agrees that it was unlikely China would have learned much from the wreckage
