China’s reckless theft of intellectual property, design, engineering and technology has been evident among Chinese military for years. This can be seen in the current J-20 fifth generation fighters, which appear to have been designed from at least four different fighter programs

BEIJING  — The People’s Liberation Army Air Force of China has released for the first time a photo of a two-seat version of its J-20 fifth-generation twin-engine stealth fighter, dressed in Chinese Air Force camouflage. In August 2020, it was announced that it had developed the first two-seat version of the J-20, a twin-engine, fifth-generation stealth fighter developed by Chengdu Aerospace.

While the single-seat version of the 5th generation fighter jets currently in production is already in service, the two-seat J-20 variant will also play a role in improving the pilot training process of Chinese squadrons0. A two-crew combat aircraft would also increase operational capabilities by helping to overcome the cognitive limitations of a single crew.

The J-20 is designed as an air superiority platform with precision strike capability. It comes from the J-XX program of the 1990s. It made its maiden flight on January 11, 2011, and was officially unveiled at the 2016 China International Aviation and Space Exhibition. The J-20 entered service with the Chinese Air Force in March 2017. The first J-20 combat unit was deployed in February 2018.

In October 2021, the two-seat version of the J-20 fighter was first spotted. In a statement published by the website of the Chinese Ministry of Defence, it was announced that a two-seat version of the J-20 fighter has also been developed. For a long time, no development was reflected to the public on the subject. In the aftermath, images of the prototype test aircraft were shared on social media.

China’s new 5th-generation J-20B fighter jet has entered mass production with sophisticated thrust vectoring controls that greatly increase its manoeuvrability to “meet actual requirements,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.