J-20 Stealth Fighter Design

Balances Speed And Agility

Unique J-20 could fit anti-access role

Chengdu’s J-20 stealth fighter represents the pinnacle of

China’s aerospace engineering, but its existence and
development have posed mysteries since the unexpected
appearance of the first prototype at the end of 2010,
followed in May 2012 by the debut of a second, similar
aircraft. The past few months, however, have seen the first
flights of a pair of significantly different J-20s, identified by
the serial Nos. 2011 and 2012.

The most substantial design change in the new aircraft

appears to be that the fuselage aft of the main landing gear
is a bit more slender, with a deeper tunnel in the
undersurface between the engines. The tailbooms that
extend aft of the all-moving vertical tails are longer, and the
lower fixed stabilizers are moved aft. The trailing-edge tips
of the vertical tails and canards are cropped, and the
leading-edge root extensions are straight rather than
curved.

The top line of the outer wall of the diverterless supersonic

inlet has been drooped, and the landing gear doors
changed: The main doors now close after the gear has
extended and the nose landing gear door has been
reshaped. The F-22-style one-piece frameless canopy on
the early aircraft has given way to a separate windshield and
canopy, the latter with detonation cord to shatter the
canopy for ejection. What appears to be a housing for an
infrared search and track system has been added below the
nose, and a missile-warning sensor fairing installed below
the aft fuselage.

The new variant aircraft appeared slightly more than three

years after the first flight of No. 2001, so some of the
changes may reflect lessons from flight testing. Other
changes represent a move toward a production or pre-
production design. So far, there have been few indications
as to when the J-20 will enter service: The Pentagon, in its
latest annual report to Congress, says it is unlikely to be
operational before 2018.

However, the appearance of the new aircraft tends to

confirm that the design has proved sound so far; all four
prototypes are now reported to be at Yanliang air base in
Xian, the Chinese air force’s main test site. The question
now is what role the J-20—which is not only the first
Chinese stealth fighter but the largest tactical aircraft built
in China—will perform in the future force.

Close examination of the J-20 shows it has no direct

analogue in the West or in Russia. The dimensions can be
estimated accurately from open-source satellite images, but
its characteristics are sometimes mis-assessed through a
focus on overall size. Details of avionics and materials
remain uncertain.

Differences between the newer J-20 configuration (left)

and the first of two aircraft (right) include a recontoured
lower-aft fuselage and longer tailbooms, with the
ventral fins moved slightly aft. The leading-edge root
extension of the new aircraft has a straight edge, and
the canard and vertical stabilizer tips are clipped.
Electro-optical sensor housings are installed under the
nose and beneath the right-hand side of the fuselage,
aft of the weapon bays. Credit: Photo via Internet

The J-20’s wing and Credit: Photo via Internet

control surface layout is
very different from that of the Lockheed Martin F-22, but
the body layout is quite similar, with twin main weapon bays
under the belly and side bays for rail-launched air-to-air
missiles (AAMs), all located under and outside the inlet
ducts. On both aircraft, the main landing gear is housed in
the fuselage behind the weapon bays and the engines are
close together. The big difference, however, is that the J-20
is 9.5 ft. (17%) longer than the F-22, from the nose to the
engine nozzles. Most of this is in the widest part of the
fuselage, and since the weapon bays are similar in size, it is
almost all available for fuel. It is a reasonable estimate that
the J-20 could have as much as 40% more internal fuel
capacity than the F-22. The longer body will also improve
fineness ratio, with benefits for transonic drag.

Despite the larger body, the empty weight of the J-20 may
be close to that of the F-22, largely because it has less-
powerful engines without the heavy two-dimensional thrust-
vectoring nozzles of the F-22’s F119s. The J-20 prototypes
are believed to be flying with United Engine Corp. (UEC) AL-
31F engines. The thrust difference between the two designs
is very large: The F-22 has almost as much power in
intermediate thrust as the J-20 does in full afterburner,
although newer versions of the UEC AL-31/117S/117 could
close the gap in later versions of the Chinese aircraft.

The conventional circular nozzles and the aft-body shape

are less conducive to stealth than the F-22, as is the case
with the T-50. This is most likely a conscious decision
because a fast aircraft can tolerate a higher radar cross-
section in the aft quadrant. While some observers have
suggested that canards are incompatible with stealth, an
engineer who was active in Lockheed Martin’s early Joint
Strike Fighter efforts says the final quad-tail configuration
was no stealthier than the earlier canard-delta design.

A detailed Chinese technical paper published in 2001 by

Song Wencong, designer of the Chengdu J-10, points to key
aerodynamic features of the J-20. The paper addresses the
design of a fighter with a delta wing, canards and leading-
edge root extensions (Lerxes), and discusses how the three
interact. The J-20, unlike the J-10, has a broad body and
the canard and wing are not close-coupled. However,
according to the paper, the Lerx and canard, used together
and in combination with a high degree of instability, can
achieve maximum lift coefficients that are as high if not
higher than those from a close-coupled canard.

The paper also discusses the vertical stabilizer design of a

stealth configuration with outward-canted surfaces. Fixed,
canted tails are exposed to powerful crossflows at high
angles of attack, because of the formation of vortices from
the wings and canard. The result is that the tails can
develop powerful moments, and because the tails are
canted, those forces will include pitch-up moments. One
way to resolve this, the paper notes, is to use smaller, all-
moving surfaces. The J-20 resembles the Sukhoi T-50 in
being directionally unstable, and is actively controlled with
the all-moving verticals. Song’s paper also says the canard
layout provides positive post-stall recovery, without the use
of thrust vectoring.

The paper identifies supersonic cruise as a requirement for

a next-generation fighter and often refers to the need to
reduce supersonic drag. The J-20’s supercruise
performance will nevertheless be strongly affected by
engine technology. China may well hope to acquire or
emulate the technology being developed by Russia for the
Su-35S and T-50. UEC’s 117S engine, developed for the Su-
35S, is more powerful than the AL-31F (32,000 lb. maximum
versus 27,500 lb. for the basic AL-31F) and has a digital
control system. The T-50’s 117 engine is similar to the 117S,
but it is further uprated to 33,000 lb. thrust, and according
to a UEC engineer, the hot-end temperature limits are
increased, to allow the engine to sustain maximum non-
afterburning thrust to higher speeds. However, the J-20 will
not match the F-22’s thrust-to-weight ratio, even with an
engine equivalent to the 117.

The J-20’s weapon arrangement is similar to the F-22,

except that the ventral bays are shorter and narrower, and
are apparently capable of accommodating only four
weapons the size of the SD-10 AAM. However, they do
appear large enough to accommodate bigger folding-wing
missiles—and China is reported to be negotiating to buy the
Russian Kh-58UShKE, a Mach 4 anti-radar missile that is
also intended for internal carriage on the T-50.

The side missile bays differ from those of the F-22 in that
the doors can be closed after the missile rail has been
extended, and have been seen with a missile—or test shape
—with low-aspect-ratio wings and folding tails. So far, no
gun has been seen on J-20s, nor has there been a sign of
provision for one.

The J-20 design, therefore, is an air-to-air fighter with an

emphasis on forward-aspect stealth, efficient high-speed
aerodynamics and range, with a modest internal payload
and more than adequate agility for self-defense. The aircraft
has considerable potential for development, because of its
currently unsophisticated engines. But it is also large and
expensive, and continued development of the J-10B shows
that China plans to maintain a high-low mix of fighters for a
long time to come.

This concept fits very well into an anti-access/area-denial

strategy given China’s regional geography and the fact that
the nation’s military and geopolitical ambitions are focused
on the China Sea and its surrounding island chains. The U.S.
has committed its armed forces to concentrate much of
their funding on tactical fighters with a combat radius of
600 mi., much less than the distance from their bases to
targets on the Chinese mainland, and has persuaded its
allies to do the same.

As a result, operations are almost entirely dependent on two

groups of aircraft: tankers and large intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft with long
endurance. Under the “distributed control” concept favored
by U.S. Air Force commanders as a hedge against electronic
warfare, including cyberattacks, the ISR aircraft also have a
control-and-communications function. However, both
tankers and ISR aircraft are vulnerable to attack, and
maintaining a defensive combat air patrol (CAP) over them
at long range is also difficult.

The J-20’s primary mission, therefore, may be to use stealth

and speed to break through the CAP and threaten vital
tankers and ISR platforms. Its range gives it a “long lance”
advantage—if the tankers, ISR aircraft and escorts have to
stay out of the J-20’s range, the tactical aircraft that they
support will not have the airborne radar cover or range
needed to reach their targets.

Also, an anti-radar missile would give the J-20 some

capability against shipping, even with internal weapons.
China’s new CM-400AKG and YJ-12 high-speed antiship
missiles will not fit the J-20’s weapon bays, but could
probably be carried under the wings, and future internal
weapons will increase its offensive capacity.

In a very broad sense, the J-20 could turn out to be an

analogue to the Soviet-era Tu-22M2/3 Backfire bomber—an
efficient and practical blend of low-risk technologies that
generates options for its users and difficult problems for its
adversaries.
 J-20 vs. F-22
J-20 F-22
Overall length (ft.) 66.8 62
Wingspan (ft.) 44.2 44.5
Wing area (sq. ft.) 840 840
Operating empty weight (lb.) 42,750 43,340
Internal fuel (lb.) 25,000 18,000
Normal takeoff weight (lb.) 70,750 64,840
Max. thrust (lb.) 55,000 70,000
Min. thrust (lb.) 34,250 52,000
Clean-fuel fraction, normal T/O 0.35 0.28
Max. thrust-to-weight ratio, combat weight 0.94 1.25
Military thrust-to-weight ratio, combat
0.59 0.93
weight
Wing loading at combat weight, lb./sq. ft. 69 66.5
Sources: Lockheed Martin, AW&ST analysis

Podcast Aviation Week editors discuss the design

characteristics of the J-20. AviationWeek.com/Check6

A version of this article appears in the November 3/10 issue

of Aviation Week & Space Technology.