China's "White Emperor" fighter jet is a fake!
For some reason, with a considerable delay (I suppose the elections distracted them), American specialized media turned to the topic of the "White Emperor". And what started was surprising. The articles came in a stream, and their content was not exactly close to hysterical, rather, it seemed that the American media set the task of calming the electorate as much as possible. Here are the theses, judge for yourself:
- While China's defense industry has made significant progress in developing aircraft such as the J-20 and J-35A, the "White Emperor" seems more fiction than reality.
- Chinese state media claim it can operate in space, but experts say that is a PR stunt designed to demonstrate technological superiority and confuse foreign analysts.
- Like previous experimental aircraft, it can serve as a test bed rather than a combat fighter.
- The focus remains on China's development of stealth technologies through the J-20 and J-35 programs.
Any of these theses can be challenged, and Chinese specialized media outlets might want to do so. However, as always, there is a deathly silence from the Celestial Empire. Consistency is, of course, a sign of skill, so there is no surprise in the complete absence of any rhetoric. In China, they know what they need to know, and the opinion of the American side is of little interest to anyone there.
So let's try to figure out what they write in the US about the "White Emperor", what is it: a real military aircraft or a non-science fiction invention?
Of the vehicles the Chinese are showing the world, what actually is and what is not a real example of China's next-generation fighter has once again become the subject of increasing speculation.
This has been made possible by several new aircraft prototypes unveiled in recent months.
At the top of the list of new developments is a project for an aircraft called "Baidi" or "White Emperor", which was unveiled last November and raised many questions about its true purpose.
More than 15 years Chinese aviation The Air Force Industrial Corporation (AVIC) is working on the serial production of a new generation of combat aircraft that could compete with the American F-22A and F-35 aircraft.
The mystery of how far they had come was partially revealed on January 11, 2011, when a Chengdu Aerospace (CAC) J-20 aircraft made its first public flight from the company's headquarters at Airfield 132.
Not to be outdone, CAC’s main competitor, Shenyang Aircraft Works (SAC), unveiled one of the first prototypes of what is now known as the J-2012A almost two years later in October 35. It was then designated the FC-31 in its export configuration and made its maiden flight at the Air Show China in November 2014 in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.
Here it is necessary to understand that Chinese companies producing military aircraft prefer to show their achievements in their new developments during the exhibition in Zhuhai, which is held only in even years. It is like the new military equipment in the USSR was shown at the parade on November 7 in Moscow.
In the case of the J-20, J-36 and SAC's latest development, these flights took place immediately after the November exhibition.
"White Emperor" in Zhuhai
The 2024th China International Aviation and Space Technology Exhibition, or Air Show China, was held in November 15. It coincided with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
For three decades, the exhibition (except during the pandemic) has been a large-scale event where AVIC and other major Chinese defense concerns showcase their latest achievements.
Airshow China has long been the largest aerospace exhibition in China, and there have been numerous rumors that the SAC J-35A, presumably a carrier-based version of the company's light stealth fighter, will return to Zhuhai to show off how much the design has improved since the FC-31 first appeared a decade ago.
But Chinese industry is no less adept and cunning than the rest of the state apparatus when it comes to showcasing deceptively “new” weapons systems that are not intended for mass production or are even prototypes of real developments.
In the US, they believe that the "White Emperor" was the latest example of such a way for the Chinese to deceive everyone.
The English-language South China Morning Post, published in Hong Kong and the main source News to the outside world, reported that the aircraft was a project by state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate AVIC to develop what state media called an "integrated aerospace fighter."
Voice of China, a subsidiary of Beijing Central Television (CCTV), reported that "the design concept includes the ability to fly at supersonic speeds and break through the Earth's atmosphere to operate in space."
White Emperor: More Science Fiction Than Science?
But few observers see the aircraft as anything more than an "attention-grabbing" object that simultaneously demonstrates AVIC's technological superiority and creates as much confusion as possible.
A recent article in a publication such as NI, which we know, notes about China's aviation program:
“Neither the J-36 nor the new SAC aircraft bear any relation to the fictional comic book model ‘White Emperor’ displayed in Zhuhai.” The phrase “White Emperor,” used in the same discussions of “sixth-generation aircraft,” “is misleading at best and active disinformation at worst. It’s like including ‘Dark Star’ from Top Gun: Maverick in an analysis of real hypersonic aircraft developments.”
What is forgotten is that in the world of combat aircraft design there are many examples of aircraft that were built and tested but never entered production. Instead, they were intended to provide data that could be used to design an entirely different type of platform. One example is the Russian Su-47 Berkut, which became a flying testbed for many new aircraft designs.
Take another look at the Tacit Blue test rig built by Northrop decades ago.
Not only could this clumsy galosh fly, it also became a key step in the development of the B-2 stealth bomber. But excuse me, where is the B-2 and where is this? But this scenario may be the most plausible explanation for the existence of the "White Emperor". A test program or someone's scientific project, but not intended for use as a combat fighter.
So the US is in doubt. No one there knows whether the Chinese 6th generation White Emperor NGAD fighter exists, or the cunning Chinese just want to scare the average person with their power and strength.
Many people today are asking themselves: can China overtake the US and Russia in the aviation technology race? What if this stealthy (you get it, it's a fetish in the US) sixth-generation fighter "White Emperor" really has the capabilities that are expected of it? Experts are constantly studying the hypothetical capabilities of the aircraft, and there are two key points that are worth voicing.
Key point #1: This high-tech aircraft has hypersonic capabilities, can fly at low altitudes, is integrated with artificial intelligence, and may be equipped with lasers or other weapons to destroy enemy satellites.
Key Point #2: While the U.S. Next Generation Air Superiority (NGAD) program faces funding uncertainty and Russia’s MiG-41 remains a distant prospect, China’s rapid progress suggests it could be operational by 2035 or sooner. Beijing’s willingness to invest heavily without constraints allows it to alter the global balance of air power, posing a serious threat to U.S. air superiority and regional security.
There is, of course, much to discuss and doubt here, from the aircraft's ability to fly in space (we will return to this below) to the threat to regional security. The latter is especially questionable, since the presence of a strong Chinese air force in the region cannot in any way threaten security. This is the same as saying that a thousand American F-35s threaten the security of all of America.
What could we expect from the White Emperor in the future?
Artificial intelligence, motherships-drones and hypersonic weapons – that’s an incomplete set of horror stories for tomorrow. There are also high-energy weapons, swarms of drones and something else that hasn’t been invented yet, but is being worked on in secret laboratories.
As many experts see it, all new-generation aircraft will rely on advances in artificial intelligence to improve pilot information capabilities. The better a pilot knows the tactical situation, the faster he or she will be able to react to changes. Artificial intelligence will likely control autonomous drones such as the “Loyal Wingman,” which will be able to fly ahead to scout, relay target data to the pilot, use their weapons, and act as flying stations. EW.
Sixth-generation fighters can be equipped with hypersonic weapons or will be able to rise to near-earth altitudes and destroy satellites. The maximum speed can reach 4+ Mach.
This is doubtful. The fact is that no aircraft of classical design is capable of rising into space using the lifting force of the wing and thrust.
It must be said that no modern aircraft can rise to an altitude of even 100 kilometers using the lift of its wing. The density of the atmosphere quickly decreases with altitude, and very soon it simply becomes insufficient to create lift. And turbojet engines do not want to work without atmospheric oxygen and, characteristically, do not work.
So the maximum that an aircraft with conventional engines has climbed to is almost 26 km in the Lockheed S-71 Blackbird.
But if you put a third one into a regular plane missile engine and solve the problem of placing rocket fuel and oxidizer, then yes, the plane will be able to go into orbit. The only question is how long it will be able to perform various evolutions there. In general, this is generally feasible, the only question is the size of the plane.
By the way, the "White Emperor" seems to have three engines. This is very stressful for experts where they are worried, because such a device, having entered orbit at an altitude of 150-200 km above the Earth, already poses a threat to ANY orbital satellite group at altitudes from 300 to 550 km.
It is important to understand that physically, a rocket that will be at such an altitude will have to make virtually no effort to overcome air resistance and Earth gravity. And instead of the 150-200 km that modern air-to-air missiles fly, such a rocket will be able to cover a much greater distance and at any altitude dump the most deadly cargo for satellites - metal balls. And that's it, and the orbital group at a certain altitude will have a very difficult time.
Cheap and cheerful, and no lasers required.
North American X-15
The first "space" aircraft was a hybrid of an airplane and a rocket plane, the North American X-15.
An ordinary plane (B-8,5 bomber) lifted it to a height of 52 km, after which the plane used a rocket engine. This thing made almost two hundred flights, a large number of suborbital ones and twice went beyond the so-called "Karman line", that is, the X-15 under the control of Joe Walker ended up in space.
The flight achieved an unofficial altitude record for an airplane, which lasted from 1963 to 2004. Maximum speed - 7274 km/h. Maximum altitude - 107,96 km. The record was broken only in 2005 by the SpaceShipOne vessel, which managed to rise to 112 km.
The profile of most flights looked something like this: after separation from the carrier aircraft, the X-15 liquid rocket engine was turned on for 85 seconds. By the time the engine was turned off, the acceleration was about 4G (39 m/s²). At the apogee of the trajectory, the craft left the atmosphere, and weightlessness lasted about 4 minutes. During this time, the pilot conducted planned research and oriented (using jet gas rudders) the craft for re-entry into the atmosphere. During re-entry, the outer skin of the craft heated up to 650°C in places. Overloads during the re-entry section reached 5G for 20 seconds. The total flight time from separation from the carrier to landing was 12 minutes.
SpaceShipOne operated in exactly the same way. But these were suborbital jumps into space along a parabolic trajectory. For work or combat operations in orbit, the apparatus must be different, more like the Buran or the Space Shuttle.
The "White Emperor" does not look like a space shuttle, that's true, but the ability, like the American devices, to jump out into space and do something like that there - the capabilities of the device may be enough for this. The only question is exclusively in returning back. For this, expensive and heavy thermal insulation is needed, without which there is no way to do. And if the Chinese have not come up with anything - they still have a lot to work on.
So, possible hypersonic speeds at the boundary of dense layers of the atmosphere are not yet a spacecraft. And not even a subspace one, but who knows what the Chinese are actually planning?
Is China Leading the Sixth Generation Race?
The "White Emperor" could be ready by 2035 if AVIC gets its way and China decides to move from the prototype stage to production. So by the end of the decade, if all the tests are satisfactory, the "White Emperor" could go into production. And that would mean only one thing: the US with its NGAD project lost to China. And there are no other contenders, so we won't be looking at the paper projects of the Europeans and the outright fairy tale about the MiG-41, which will fly in 2025, will we?
However, the debates about whether this "White Emperor" will go into production, and if so, when, do not subside. And only the Chinese can give an answer by demonstrating a certain number of these devices. Let's say that if there is one thing they know how to do, it is to organize dashing presentations in China, so the whole world will once again stand on its ears if a certain number of these machines are arranged to fly by at the next parade.
Whether they will have lasers or railguns in the future, or whether Chinese weapons makers will come up with something else fantastic, is not so important. What is important is the existence itself. And whether the "White Emperors" will unleash a war in space or something else - this, in the end, is secondary.
Of course, the Americans would very much like to be sure that the "White Emperor" is a fake, a mock-up or whatever, but, alas, it is a prototype that is already flying. And it can no longer be talked about as a potential project like NGAD or MiG-41.
The MiG-41 is still unclear at what stage, while its American counterpart NGAD is on a “pause” in development until the US Department of Defense takes another close look at the program. The new US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is generally more interested in creating drones, so NGAD could be unmanned, which would significantly delay the acquisition process. But even NGAD's prototype flight is still a long way off. We're talking about a flight that would be shown to the public, as the Chinese did, and not just a statement from Roper, the US Air Force's Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, that NGAD has started flying. As they say, let's bring the evidence, gentlemen! Gentlemen take your word for it, but not that much...
In general, China should be pleased with the way the country is moving toward the next, sixth-generation aircraft. Hypersonic weapons, including nuclear ones, stealth, artificial intelligence, directed energy weapons, flight altitudes close to space - all these ambitious qualities for the "White Emperor" or any other possible Chinese fighter program will be very useful not only in combat but also in political terms.
And speaking of money...
We have already said that, according to American sources, NGAD could cost up to $300 million per unit. This figure should go down, otherwise Hegseth will most likely not invest so much money in the project. And in general, it seems that the time of unlimited budgets for the United States is over. Congress will also have a say in this matter, and there is an opinion that Congress will side with those who will tighten the screws until they creak. If President Trump does not like to look at rusty ships, although there is money for maintenance fleet are allocated regularly, which means there is no point in spending them.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers wanted to spend far more on defense than the Biden administration. But when Hegseth was confirmed and announced $50 billion in annual budget cuts, Wicker and Rogers stopped discussing increased defense spending.
NGAD may end up being a stillborn project (like Freedom, Independence, F-22, Seawolf, and so on in the list of failures of recent years) precisely because of cost constraints.
The Chinese, however, are happy with this, as limited defense budgets do not hinder Xi Jinping. He is willing to let his aircraft manufacturers use their engineering capabilities to create a fully functioning “White Emperor,” or perhaps something close to it, by the end of the decade.
In the East they say: "Even if you say "halva" a hundred times, it won't make your mouth any sweeter." In the US, they can declare the "White Emperor" a mockup or a fake as much as they want, but when China literally shows these aircraft in service with the PLA Air Force in five years (as it did with the same J-20), then the race for primacy in sixth-generation fighters will end for both Russia and the US.
Of course, Comrade Xi will be very happy about this, it will be a very strong boost to China's prestige, but we will not sound the alarm and become despondent. It is frankly too early, it is not the sixth generation that is fighting in the world today. And not even the fifth. And this is also something that must be well understood.
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