China showcases concept of new (and mysterious) fighter jet: aims to carry out air and space operations

This month the 15th International Aviation Exhibition. As event hostthe Asian country has a lot to show. Not only are details of the Shenyang J-35, rival to the American Lockheed Martin F-35, scheduled to be announced, but other fighter jets will also appear on the scene.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has presented a concept of the Baidi. We are talking about a “space and air fighter” capable of reaching supersonic speeds and carrying out special operations. It is a very ambitious vehicle that is part of the Nantianmen Project on future-focused technology.

China’s most mysterious fighter

As we can see in the imagesthe fighter model exhibit unusual lines and a completely futuristic appearance. It reminds us in a way of the Lockheed SR-72 that the United States is developing, a project about which, by the way, there are not many details either, although it is estimated that it has appeared in the movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.

Returning to what could be the next jewel of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), Interesting Engineering points out that Baidi is a very real project, so much so that the design has evolved over time, increasing the size of its internal weapons bay to store heavier air-to-ground munitions and updating the avionics.

Some shared videos on Chinese platforms during the exhibition suggest that Baidi will be a manned aircraft. Presumably, if we take into account current needs and its design, it would have a fuselage whose materials and lines would help avoid detection by enemy radar systems, but the details are a real mystery.

Will this peculiar new generation fighter ever fly? We don’t know, but we do know that China is making a huge effort to improve its defense capabilities on land, air and sea. The United States, in fact, warned two years ago that they had information that suggested that the Asian giant had the resources to begin developing a sixth-generation fighter.

Images | China Airshow

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