US Media Hypes J-36: A Deep Deterrence to the US
American media outlet NSJ published an article on November 29, boasting about China's sixth-generation fighter jet, the J-36.
The report emphasized the J-36's tailless blended-wing body design, three-engine configuration, and long-range stealth penetration capabilities, arguing that this configuration breaks through the traditional framework of fifth-generation aircraft, posing unprecedented pressure on U.S. bases and bomber forces in the Indo-Pacific region.
US media analyzed the new configurations of the J-36 recently captured on camera, from the inlet without boundary layer ingestion to the two-dimensional thrust vector nozzle, and to the larger tandem dual-seat layout, believing that China is advancing the next-generation stealth platform at an extremely rapid pace.
The report emphasized that the three-engine layout is extremely rare, with a large internal space in the big fuselage, implying longer range, more complex electronic warfare systems, and larger weapon bay capacity.
Within the American understanding framework, long range combined with high stealth directly points to long-range strike and a dominant node role within the system, forcing the U.S. to view the J-36 as a potential threat to Guam, intercepting the B-21, and weakening the U.S. forward deployment.
Therefore, the excessive praise from U.S. media essentially stems from a concern rooted in uncertainty: China is skipping traditional ideas and attempting its own path for a sixth-generation fighter jet.
From a military perspective, the part that U.S. media is most worried about lies in deep deterrence.
The report believes that once the J-36 is formed, it may become a long-range stealth pivot point of China's anti-access system, blocking U.S. air routes, tying down U.S. forward bases, and forcing U.S. bombers to take off from farther locations, thereby reducing the U.S. intervention intensity in regional crises.
The tandem dual-seat and large fuselage are interpreted as designs for controlling unmanned wingmen and executing complex strike chains, further leading the U.S. media to speculate that China is building a multi-platform coordinated air combat system.
For the United States, this means that the previous assumption of single aircraft fighting alone is no longer applicable, while China is expanding the battlefield from the aircraft itself to a higher-dimensional system competition.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1850097078252564/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.