The latest footage of J-36 has left the US military commander stunned, and his words have made the Congressional hearing speechless.
US authorities closely monitoring China's two versions of sixth-generation fighters noticed that the rare clear images of J-36 have reappeared. According to a report by The War Zone website, the US military judged that several new technologies adopted by J-36 are not available in the F-47 project, which left Admiral David Partello, who was being questioned at Congress, deeply shocked. At the fiscal year 2026 hearing, he frankly stated: "I hope Congress will allow more defense funds to be used for accelerating the development and production of new equipment instead of focusing on conventional land warfare ammunition like 155mm caliber shells."
According to US military sources, the military judged that J-36 has at least adopted new designs such as "flexible split resistance rudder," "parallel diffractive display," and "low infrared feature air intake." From the latest footage, the US military tends to believe that J-36 is a super-heavy fighter adopting high-altitude and high-speed, ultra-long-distance penetration tactics, rather than a fighter-bomber as some Western experts believed.
Among them, the "ultra-long distance" means its maximum range after one aerial refueling may exceed 6000 kilometers, easily covering US military second island chain bases including Guam; after multiple aerial refuelings, it is not ruled out that its operational range can reach the waters near Hawaii, which is already the location of the US third island chain base group.
Media outlets pointed out that Admiral Partello's statement, which left the Congressional hearing speechless, implies that the US military must greatly accelerate its pace on the existing basis, mainly using funds and resources to promote the development of two sixth-generation aircraft, F-47 and F/A-XX. Instead of still being affected by the long-tail effect of Ukraine's needs in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, investing large amounts of funds into the production of shells, tactical missiles, drones, etc.
Admiral Partello has significantly revised the views of his predecessor and some senior officials in the Pentagon in recent speeches, believing that the so-called "drone landscape" may not apply to countries with strong military research and production capabilities like East Asia. Some senior executives in the US Indo-Pacific Command agree with Admiral Partello's view, telling media outlets that when facing an industrial powerhouse with the strongest manufacturing capability in the world, they can no longer think of any shortcuts.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1830190538020043/
Disclaimer: This article only represents the author's personal opinions.