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Chinese Sixth Generation Fighter Powers Up Engines (top) and With Open Weapons Bays
Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff
January-31st-2026
Images published on Chinese social media have for the first time shown the ultra-long range sixth generation fighter aircraft currently under development by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation with its three engines all powered on and glowing, in what appears to be a pre-takeoff image. First unveiled on December 26, 2024, the yet unnamed aircraft is the first in the world with a triple engine configuration, with its central engine appearing to be larger than the two on each side. This configuration is expected to be optimal both to allow the fighter, which is by far the largest ever developed in the world, to retain a viable thrust/weight ratio despite its large size, while it may also have advantages in terms of fuel efficiency for very long flights. The aircraft’s range is expected to exceed 8,000 kilometres, allowing for extended flights over the Pacific Ocean and placing targets within a radius of over 4,000 kilometres within unrefuelled targeting range.
Chinese Ultra-Long Range Sixth Generation Fighter Fourth Prototype
The latest image shows the new fighter with a revised twin main landing gear configuration, with its wheels arranged side-by-side, indicating that it is one of the more recent of the four prototypes known to have begun flight testing. A significant prevailing question regarding the new fighter, referred to in the West as the ‘J-XX’ or ‘J-36,’ is whether it will integrate one or more engines with “third stream” of bypass air for greater efficiency and cooling. An engine with this new design feature was previously under development to modernise the American F-35 fifth generation fighter to a ‘5+ generation’ standard under the Adaptive Engine Transition Program before this was cancelled to reduce costs.
The engine developed under the American program was also intended have an adaptive cycle, which would intended to significantly increase thrust and endurance by allowing it to vary between a high fuel efficiency mode for cruising, and a high thrust mode for combat. While a triple engine configuration is already expected to provide significantly high power levels for onboard systems, including the world’s largest fighter radar, and possibly directed energy weapons, a greater cooling and power generation capability provided by a three stream engine design would further complement this.
J-20 Fighters with Interim WS-10C (left) and WS-15 Engines
Chinese fighter engines currently in production are considered technologically broadly on par with those in the United States, with the WS-15 confirmed in December 2025 to have been integrated onto serial J-20 fifth generation air superiority fighters estimated to have a comparable thrust/weight ratio and fuel efficiency to the F135 powering the Western world’s sole fifth generation fighter type in production the F-35. Both engines are significantly more efficient and powerful than the older F119 powering the F-22 fifth generation fighter. New variants of the J-20 integrating the WS-15 in twin configuration have higher thrust levels than any operational fighter types in the world. Despite the significant progress made by industry to bring the WS-15 program to a serial production stage, it remains uncertain how well positioned Chinese industry is to operationalise a three stream engine or an adaptive cycle engine for the new fighter, or whether this is indeed intended.
Chinese Ultra-Long Range Sixth Generation Fighter First and Third Prototypes
Days before the release of the first image of the new sixth generation fighter with three active engines were published, the program was reported to have reached a major milestone with the first flight of the fourth prototype airframe. Four incrementally more advanced prototypes were unveiled in a period of approximately 13 months from December 2024, indicating a particularly rapid rate of progress that indicates the fighter could be brought into service near the beginning of the 2030s, likely more than half a decade before any other fighter type of its generation. The rival F-47 sixth generation fighter under development for the U.S. Air Force is intended to make its first flight only in 2028, and is projected to enter service in the latter half of the 2030s, with the United States having previously taken well over twice as long to bring its fighters from flight testing to operational service.
Original:https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/first-look-first-triple-engine-fighter-china
