New images give the clearest look yet at Shenyang's tailless fighter: lambda wing, vectoring nozzles, twin-wheel nose gear

Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (AVIC)/J-50 (Shenyang sixth-generation fighter)

Photos of Shenyang's new stealth jet in flight showed far more detail than the blurry December 2024 shots. The tailless, twin-engine aircraft has a lambda wing, side-mounted inlets that each feed one engine, flat thrust-vectoring nozzles and a tricycle undercarriage. The images made it very likely the jet carries a pilot.

• First seen 26 December 2024; reports said it first flew about a week earlier.
• Diverterless supersonic inlets on each side of the fuselage, one per engine.
• 2D exhaust nozzles, possibly with thrust vectoring, and wingtips that may pivot.
• A bulge under the cockpit likely houses an electro-optical targeting sensor.
• Smaller than Chengdu's J-36; flew with a Chinese Flanker-type chase plane.