China appears to have carried out the first flight tests of a previously unseen, stealth fighter jet.
Video clips posted online showed the tailless aircraft moving through the sky accompanied by a J-20 escort.
Experts said the triangular aircraft appeared to be the most advanced design China has yet fielded, although it was too early to determine the capabilities or performance.
Hours later, a second video clip appeared online of flight testing of another, smaller, tailless aircraft.
China has for years been pouring money and innovation into new aircraft in an attempt to break the air-power supremacy of the United States in the Pacific.
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Aviation analysts said the disclosure of the two new designs within 24 hours of each other was momentous and showed Beijing’s commitment to the arms race.
The larger of the two designs is a sixth-generation combat aircraft and is thought to have been filmed at the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation factory airfield.
The aircraft has a modified delta-wing shape and appears to be manned, according to the War Zone defence blog.
Tailless designs can give aircraft a smaller radar signature, while the size of the aircraft appears to be designed to give it long range and a heavy weapons payload, as well as room for a large load of sensors and fuel.
The aircraft also appeared to have three air intakes for its engines, two alongside the fuselage and one on top, in what experts said was an extremely unusual configuration.
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Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Reuters that the designs “show the willingness of China’s aviation industry to experiment and innovate”.
He said: “Whatever the merits or demerits, it appears to be a highly original design.
“They deserve kudos for that, and should shake off any lingering complacency that the US and its allies always set the pace.”
Bill Sweetman, editor for Aviation Week, said that the aircraft’s “big main weapons bay” meant it could carry “larger weapons for larger targets – aircraft carriers and air bases”.
“Alternatively, [the aircraft] could launch swarms of loitering munitions against air bases, including more distant ones hosting long-range B-21s.”
Speculating that it could enter production by the end of the decade, Mr Sweetman said: “We may have a problem on our hands.”
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The second design appeared to be a tailless, twin-engine aircraft, with a swept wing and there were unconfirmed reports it had been built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. It was accompanied by a Shenyang-made Sukhoi Su-27 clone.
‘Curious’ daytime flights
The US is several years into the development of its own new aircraft, with the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme.
However, the programme is proving to be hugely costly and there are question marks over how it will proceed under president-elect Donald Trump.
Britain, Japan and Italy are working to build their own next-generation combat aircraft to be ready by the middle of next decade.
China’s daytime flights of the new designs over cities where they could be easily seen was “curious”, said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the US-based Stimson Centre.
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She added it might be easier for China to match pace with the US on aircraft rather than uncrewed vehicles and missiles.
“As the Pentagon is actively debating the future of NGAD… it is hard not to wonder if this is Beijing’s attempt to influence that debate,” said Ms Grieco.
The US has been pouring resources into advanced missiles and other systems to deter China in the Indo-Pacific region.
It recently tested a missile-interception system on the strategically important island of Guam using an advanced radar.
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