It was a new yellow J-20, with a two-seat cockpit. The addition of a second seat to the J-20 will help the crew better exploit the modern features of this fighter
The development of the two-seat version of the J-20 has long been rumored as a major development, presenting a major boost to the PLA Air Force’s air combat capabilities. Recently, images of a 2-seat fighter have been revealed. A new J-20 has appeared at Chengdu Aerospace Corporation’s factory.
It was a new yellow J-20, with a two-seat cockpit. The addition of a second seat to the J-20 will help the crew better exploit the modern features of this fighter. This means that the J-20 can operate a variety of weapons, as well as support other equipment, allowing it to perform more missions, giving China an air-to-air superiority over the United States and other adversaries.
In addition to air superiority, this will also make pilot training more effective. The two-seat J-20 will also be a premise in China’s application of drones. The second pilot will become the Command Center for the UAV squadron, controlling and piloting the UAVs to coordinate combat with manned fighters.
The Chengdu J-20, nicknamed “Wēilóng”, or Mighty Dragon, is a Chinese 5th generation stealth fighter, first entered service in 2017. There is currently no official information about the new J-20 variant, but it can be expected that it will not be too different from the previous single-seat version.
The single-seat version has a relatively large size, with a length of 21.2m, a wingspan of 13m and a height of 4.69m. The empty weight is 17 tons, and the maximum take-off weight is 37 tons. In addition to the main internal weapon bay, there are four external hardpoints for weapons and drop tanks, with Maximum weapon capacity of 11 tons.
The arsenal of this fighter is relatively diverse for different missions. Air-to-air missiles include PL-10, PL-12, PL-15, PL-21 for different ranges. There are also precision-guided LS-6 bombs and anti-radiation missiles. To support combat, the J-20 is equipped with a variety of the most modern avionics equipment, such as electronically scanned array radars, targeting systems, track and target locking systems, and more. The J-20 has a combat range of up to 2,000km.
And finally, to ensure its mobility in air combat, the J-20 is equipped with powerful Saturn AL-31 or Shenyang WS-10C twin engines. Ensuring the stealthy fighter has a top speed of up to Mach 2, a range of up to 5,500km, and a service ceiling of up to 20,000m.
Currently, there is no official information on the number of J-20s in the Chinese air force. According to some sources, it is estimated that the Chinese Air Force will receive 400-500 fighters, and currently there are about 90 in service.
