China’s New Apex Predator Set to Rule Asia and Pacific

China’s J-36: A 6th-gen stealth trijet with unmatched range, AI-driven drone swarms, and the power to outpace US air dominance...

Beijing is set to win the race among the great powers for a sixth-generation combat aircraft, with the development of not one, but two sixth-generation stealth aircraft, informally dubbed the J-36 and J-XX by China watchers.

Once these aircraft enter serial production — likely within the next few years after flight tests conclude — they will deliver a harder blow to America’s ‘big five’ defence contractors than the one-two punch China’s AI platform, DeepSeek, dealt to the 'Magnificent Seven' tech giants.

Whilst less is known about the J-XX, the J-36, by contrast, has emerged in sharper detail — and that’s our focus here.

What we do know is this — the advanced, stealthy and enormous J-36 fighter jet — is a tailless, supersonic, trijet flying wing with a double delta design — that has entered pre-production flight testing, surging ahead of rival programs like the US’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), the UK-led Tempest, and Europe’s FCAS — taking military analysts by surprise. As for its two-seater, side-by-side cockpit configuration? We’ll circle back to that later.

Typically, what takes the US over 15 years — from green-lighting a next-generation fighter jet to its operational deployment — China pulls off in just 5. This puts the J-36 on track for operational service by the early 2030s, whilst the US’s 6th-generation fighter will struggle to secure initial operational status before 2040 — relegating the US to the status of an also-ran.

In other words, China now commands at least a 5-year technological lead in fighter jet capability over the US — and I suspect that lead will only widen from here on out.

Whilst Western 6th-generation designs prioritise agility and versatility, the J-36 delivers both — alongside exceptional range and unmatched electrical power generation, addressing the critical weaknesses of modern fighters through its three-engine configuration.

Unlike traditional engines that prioritise thrust, the J-36’s trijet design generates a surplus of electrical energy, enabling larger and more powerful GaN radar systems, greater computational capacity, enhanced electronic warfare capabilities, and direct-energy weapons — with capacity to spare for future technologies. By rendering its rivals obsolete, it sets the definitive benchmark for advanced combat jets. For sure, this is a tailor-made solution for establishing air superiority over the West Pacific and Asia.

China’s new J36: a 6th-generation stealth fighter jet — a tailless, supersonic, trijet flying wing with a double delta design — undergoing flight tests, manufactured by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC).

As more details emerge about this next-generation stealth flying wing, its lethality becomes undeniable. With supercruise — the ability to sustain supersonic flight without afterburners — a 10,000 km range, and a 3,000 km combat radius under full payload, it obsoletes America’s most advanced fighter, the F-22 Raptor.

The Raptors maximum range is just 2,900 km (with external tanks and no weapons), and its combat radius barely reaches 1,000 km. This striking contrast underscores the J-36’s potential to upend strategic calculations in the West Pacific. It’s like fielding a sniper rifle whilst everyone else is stuck with pistols.

This is why the J-36 is a beast compared to its Western counterparts. The reason is fuel, and lots of it. With its huge double delta wing — over 200 square metres — the J-36’s design has massive internal fuel tanks.

In practical terms, it has the legs to engage distant carrier groups or strike the US’s strategic air force and naval bases in the heart of the West Pacific — Guam. And how far is Guam from the Chinese mainland? You guessed it: 3,000km, the same as the J36’s combat radius.

Indeed, all of India, Diego Garcia, and Hawaii fall well within its operational range — and with the likely addition of refuelling drones, potentially adapted GJ-11 Sharp Swords, as loyal wingmen, its reach could extend globally. No corner of the world would remain out of reach.

As photographs reveal, its sheer size accommodates enormous internal weapons bays, capable of carrying the PLAAF’s most advanced long-range missiles, including the PL-17 air-to-air missile, the KD-20 land-attack cruise missile, and the ‘carrier killer,’ the YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship missile. Outboard weapon hardpoints further enhance its lethal multi-role capabilities.

More importantly, when combined with China’s existing Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy in the West Pacific — think: targeting US, NATO, and AUKUS Pacific forces with land-launched hypersonic anti-ship missiles from fortified island chains — the J-36 adds a lethal layer of redundancy.

But the J-36 is no one-trick pony. Counterintuitively, its true potential lies as a stand-off weapon. Because at the heart of its capabilities is command and control of accompanying drone formations, referred to as Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T). Here, the jet acts as mission commander, leading a swarm of loyal wingmen —subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic drones — scouting, striking, and absorbing enemy fire — whilst the pilot hangs back from the thick of the fray.

It’s not hard to imagine, a fleet of unmanned collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) launching from a carrier — China has already built the world's first dedicated drone carrier — with an inbound J-36 taking command to orchestrate a decisive, large-scale strike.

This likely explains the side-by-side, twin-seat configuration, essential for dual-pilot operations; enabling effective flight management, command and control of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), extended mission endurance, and rapid assessment of complex situational awareness data.

And there’s more, much more. AI engineer and technology analyst TP Huang, who has undertaken a technically insightful and granular analysis of the J-36’s formidable capabilities, asserts that it is a high-value, near-untouchable asset.

With the ability to fly at extreme speeds and altitudes, the fighter jet can evade detection and outrun most missiles. Its advanced electronic warfare (EW) systems can spoof incoming threats, while directed-energy weapons provide a last-line defence against missiles. And that’s only if the US can penetrate its protective screen of manned and unmanned CCAs — attritable aircraft designed to absorb risks the J-36 cannot.

The aircrafts unmatched computational power and long-range radar — both highly energy-intensive systems — are sustained by its three-engine design. This allows the aircraft to process exabytes of data from land, sea, air, and space assets in theatre while simultaneously tracking, targeting, and prioritising multiple threats — whether cueing hypersonic missiles onto an enemy carrier group or jamming satellites to disrupt an adversary’s kill chain.

As Tyler Rogoway, Editor-in-Chief at TWZ, correctly notes —

“…it could put targets in the air, on the ground, and at sea at risk in areas where they currently do not expect a threat from a manned combat aircraft. This has real implications for American tankers, airlifters, and airborne early warning and control, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as allied ships and forces operating at forward locales. It would also serve as a critical force-multiplying sensor platform operating far forward. Paired with drone wingmen of relevant endurance, its lethality and survivability would be multiplied. In other words, the existence of this aircraft is a very big deal”.

In short, the J-36 is the world’s new apex predator of the skies, set to rewrite the rules of air superiority and tilt the balance of power in Asia and the Pacific decisively in China’s favour. Of course, the true value of sixth-generation fighter jets lies not in combat, but in deterrence and leverage.

Make no mistake — America has crossed the Rubicon. For the first time, it has fallen behind in military aircraft. With its hard power predicated on air superiority, any lingering doubt has vanished: unipolarity has gasped its terminal breath. That era is over; a new one begins.

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