Since the start of this week, social media handles that monitor China's military advances have been abuzz about sightings of a new variant of the J-20 stealth fighter: A two-seat version.
By Wednesday, clear footage of the aircraft, painted in yellow primer, emerged. The aircraft was seen taxiing at an airfield. It is yet unclear whether the aircraft has flown.
Analysts described the sighting of the aircraft as a milestone as no other country has developed a stealth fighter with a two-man crew. The US-built F-22 and F-35 jets, the stealth fighters that have seen the most service, still exist as single-seat aircraft.
Single seat vs 2 seater
Ever since the first jet aircraft emerged in the late 1940s, nearly all fighters have had two-seat variants developed primarily for training new pilots. Since the 1980s, advances in fly-by-wire technology, flight control equipment and simulators have negated the need for dedicated two-seat trainer variants of fighters. Fighters such as the Rafale, F-16 and Eurofighter all have two-seat variants, which in addition to training, are capable of specific combat missions such as control of air-to-ground weapons.
But stealth fighters, which began entering service after the turn of the century, have not climbed on the two-seat bandwagon. This has been attributed to them having advanced flight controls as well as the need for extensive design modifications to stretch the fuselage to accommodate a new pilot. Additional money, technological resources and time would be needed to modify and test a two-seat version, without compromising an aircraft's stealth characteristics and manoeuvrability.
Speculation about China developing a two-seat version of the J-20 has been around for years. The original J-20 prototype first flew in 2011 and according to various reports, a least 60-70 aircraft are in service.
Why 2 is better than one
Proponents of a two-man crew for stealth aircraft claim a second pilot is necessary to make sense of the copious amount of data coming from on-board sensors such as radars and infrared tracking systems as well as datalinks that provide information from assets like airborne early-warning aircraft and even warships.
Aviation journalist David Cenciotti, who runs the popular blog The Aviationist, explains, "Each sensor is as useful as the ability of the pilot to interpret and exploit the details it provides. In practice, no matter how many sensors the aircraft carry, the only effect a constant flow of data being shown on the displays in front of a pilot’s eyes would only be to saturate his or her attention making the large amount of information available simply unusable. With a second brain aboard, this problem is solved (obviously, within certain limits) and the aircraft can undertake additional tasks."
In 2019, the state-run Global Times reported a two-seat version of the J-20 was under development and the proposed aircraft could be developed for roles such as electronic warfare and into a light bomber.
Drone controller
Cenciotti wrote the new two-seat J-20 could be used for control of 'loyal wingman' drones. Loyal wingman is a term used for UAVs that operate alongside fighters and can carry out more dangerous missions such as attacking air-defence installations, without risking lives of pilots.
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In recent years, the concept of 'manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T)' has taken off across the world, with systems such as the AH-64 Apache testing the carriage of small drones meant for surveillance or strike missions.
US defence website The Drive explained, “emergence of manned-unmanned teaming and loyal wingmen drones will be greatly enabled by a second person acting as a 'mission commander' of sorts, who helps control unmanned systems and coordinates tactics with them near the forward edges of the fight. This is precisely where the J-20 was designed to be employed. Even some competitive disadvantages in unmanned autonomy and networking capabilities could be at least partially offset by having another crewman in the cockpit who is focused on the implementation of manned-unmanned teaming tactics."
