Thread by @heatloss1986

Now for a more coherent thread on my observations on the new Chinese planes.

The first thought is that these are not related aircraft at all. One appears to have optimized internal bay space and the other does not have the same internal bay optimization.

The higher resolution images provide some interesting details about the first one.
There are two smaller bays, indicated by the green arrows. The central bays, indicated by white arrows are an extra third longer.

The shiny spots on the sides of the nose make more sense now that we have higher resolution images. I believe these might be infrared apertures. Depending on the scanning systems to enable coverage, these might be able to overlap across the nose, much like the IRSTs on YF-12.

The patches indicated with yellow arrows could either be service panels or some kind of conformal radar array. I can't tell, but they are unusual. If I had to guess, side-looking conformal radar array.

The intakes and engine situation is confusing. There are two splitter plate intakes rather than DSIs on the lower chin that seem to feed the side engines, but the top of the aircraft appears to have a DSI. People have theorized that DSIs perform worse at high speed.

I'm not an aero expert, but this doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Why would you have different types of intakes with different advantages on the same aircraft? wouldn't that only get you the worst of both worlds?

As for the number of engines, my guess is that they are diameter-limited, and thus could not get two engines into the space they need.

The next thing to get to is the size. This is massive. The J-20S chase plane is behind it somewhat, but even adjusting for that mentally, this is huge. J-20 is in the same size class as F-22, with a 13m wingspan, and this new jet appears to have a 20m-ish wingspan.

The DSI on top also appears to start near the end of the weapons bay. This makes me think that the main bay may extend to the top of the fuselage, and may even contain a rotary munitions dispenser.
The end of the munitions bay doors are about where the wheel doors end.

I think this jet is is JH-XX.
JH-XX is supposedly a strike-focused aircraft, with nuclear delivery in mind.
I do not believe that this is a "sixth generation fighter." I believe it is strike-focused, with a possible secondary A2A role, mostly for tanker/AWACS hunting.

The second jet is both more and less interesting. This is not a tailless design. It appears to have folding vertical stabilizers for different modes of flight, as this design seems to relatively closely match the one in the quoted post.

https://x.com/OedoSoldier/status/1872257283780223253

It's also much smaller, has two engines rather than three, and has intakes on only the bottom of the aircraft. I think these are DSIs rather than splitter plate intakes.

I don't see any placement for weapons bays (yet), but no higher resolution images exist yet.

Here you can see what appears to be the folding tails in a more lowered position. Like with what I think is JH-XX, this was flown for a short time with the gear extended.
Both of these appear to be initial test flights.

Given how close it seems to relate to existing ideas that Shenyang has publicly shared before, I think this is more likely to be a technology demonstrator. It's possible that this is a new A2A platform, but I'm not sure yet. I think this is is manned.

Both jets seem to have lots of radar signature reduction features, and likely have infrared signature reduction features.

I can't make any guesses about RCS or infrared signature strength (and neither can you), but they do seem to be competently designed with LO in mind.

I am not worried about them, but I do take them seriously.
If you have any comments or suggestions please leave them in the replies, I'm greatly enjoying discussing this topic.

Oh and don't follow me if you're pro-PRC, you'll hate me and my opinions. I don't do this kinda analysis on western aircraft.

Get lost chicoms I will start blocking some of you

Update: I think these are side-looking radars.

https://x.com/RSimbacca/status/1872516707165831311