The Chinese J-20 fighter performed a rare flight demonstration recently, showing off its manoeuvrability for the first time after the 2021 China Airshow. As promised, I am sharing this video with you to analyse the latest flight demonstration.

Last year, the J-20 made a strong impression with a flight display at the China Airshow. The Chinese military actually claimed the flight was somewhat restricted, not revealing the full capacity of the J-20, but it was still exceptionally impressive, including a few post-stall manoeuvres, such as Tail Slide. This time, the J-20 demonstration is low-key, but it is still a very interesting flight demonstration worth investigating further. The latest demo of the J-20 was carried about at the Air Force Achievement airshow in northern China. It started with the landing gear down, low altitude, low speed flypast, including low speed turning at an angle. That is mainly to show the low speed stability and manoeuvrability of the aircraft, which is the basis of having great anti-stall performance.

The J-20 also did low speed turns, likely at an angle of 40 or 50 degrees. Some analysts believe that the speed is similar to the landing speed of the S-U-27 fighter. The speed and altitude have been maintained, proving the J-20 can be very stable even at such a low speed. While doing so, a few J-20 control surfaces were not deflecting. That is an indication of good stability design at low speed. When all surfaces are in action, the pilot would be able to complete much greater manoeuvres, for example, swiftly pointing the nose at the enemy direction, then locking on and firing a missile. Adding to that, the J-20’s two V tails deflect inward together, generating a positive lift. The static stability of the J-20 at this moment is negative. The two canards are level; they are not even needed in this maneuver. The main wing slats are also level. In summary, the J-20 definitely has an impressive statically unstable design. Therefore, when all the surfaces are in action, the J-20 can perform exceptionally high-maneuver moves.

The next thing the J-20 did was a small angle climb plus a half loop, an integration of multiple manoeuvers. The half loop is similar to some post stall manoeuvres and only takes 3 seconds to complete. That demonstrates how quickly the J-20 can change course. Next, the J-20 performed minimal radius turns. At last year's airshow, the J-20 did that, too. This part proves this much larger, heavier, stealthy fighter can make a turn as quickly as an F-16 fighter with an air combat payload. And the F-16 is well known for its world-class maneuverability. This is downright impressive.

This time, the J-20’s turning angle is around 80 degrees. The turn is steady, and the G force is roughly 6G. If we look at the angle of attack, control surface deflection, and engine thrust level indicated by nozzle status change, we can confirm that the J-20 is flying at an intermediate status and it matches the extreme performance of an F-16C fighter.

Keep in mind that the J-20 has not yet received its designated turbofan engine or vector thrust nozzle. When these two improvements are delivered to the future J-20 variant, the fighter can achieve even higher maneuverability.

The last part of the flight demo is a steep climb plus a high angle of attack roll. Some analysts point out that, observing the wingtip vortex, the J-20 is actually at a higher angle of attack when doing the climb and roll. Therefore, this is not just a basic climb and roll routine. If we look at these continuous screenshots of the flight, we can easily see that within less than 3 seconds, the J-20 has completed a 360-degree roll with a high angle of attack, and the nose direction of the J-20 has changed over 40 degrees per second. That is actually another proof of the J-20’s world-class post-stall manoeuvre capability. And this is why the J-20 pilot chose to perform this part; it tells everyone how great this fighter is.

Lastly, again, this routine is completed without a great turbofan engine similar to what the US F-22 has, and there is no vector thrust control involved. For many people, they can’t wait to see what the ultimate variant of the J-20 can do in a flight demonstration. Thank you for watching this video. I really need your support to build this channel. Please help me by subscribing, sharing, and commenting. Thank you.

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Photo and video: Wiki common, People daily client app, Yangshipin site, Yangshijunshi weibo

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