Sixth-generation planes are only a marginal enhancement over fifth-generation ones—and China has yet to fully build out their fifth generation. Why would Beijing still be investing in those systems if their sixth-generation plane is as good as they say it is?
When curious onlookers at the Zhuhai Air Show in November of 2024 saw just what the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was showcasing, their collective jaws dropped. Painted white and gray, and looking like something from the popular science fiction video game series Mass Effect, PLAAF representatives claimed the sleek plane was a mockup of China’s soon-to-be-revealed sixth-generation warplane.
China has dubbed their sixth-generation warplane the “White Emperor,” named after one of the five manifestations of the Chinese deity Shangdi. This mythical figure is associated with metal, the west, and autumn. His animal form is the White Dragon—fitting considering the paint scheme of the mockup displayed at the Zhuhai Air Show.
The following month, over Christmas, Beijing let images of its supposed sixth-generation warplane doing flight tests leak to Chinese social media. Naturally, these images found their way into Western media sources, causing a high degree of consternation and handwringing. The reaction in the West ranged from disbelief to ambivalence to, as noted, consternation.
America’s default response has been ambivalence about this news. After all, most Americans understandably believe that theirs is the country from where the world’s most advanced weapons and technology derive.
But in many cases, this assumption has been proven to be inaccurate—and it might very well be that China has bested the Americans in the aerospace domain, too.
Can America’s Sixth-Gen F-47 Fighter Keep Up?
Of course, the United States has an answer: the Trump administration has signed off on letting Boeing build America’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform, the so-called “F-47,” for the United States Air Force.
According to President Trump, prototypes of this plane have been flying for at least five years. Indeed, after Boeing was officially named as the winner of the competition, the other bidder for the NGAD contract, Lockheed Martin, published photos of their prototype on social media.
What makes sixth-generation planes separate and more advanced from fifth-generation warplanes, such as the F-22A Raptor or the F-35 Lightning II, is the inclusion of artificial intelligence, advanced cloud computing, possible directed energy weapons, and the ability to launch advanced drones that can serve as a “Loyal Wingman” to the manned sixth-generation warplane.
But a sixth-generation plane is prohibitively expensive. The proposed U.S. F-47 will cost around $300 million per plane. At a time when America’s defense industrial base can barely keep up with the demand for existing airframes, many rightly question the ability for the defense industrial base to suddenly surge capacity and build sufficient numbers of these onerously expensive and complex F-47s.
China’s Advantages in Plane Construction
Of course, China’s aircraft production is highly secretive—and any details that are made public can be assumed to have been leaked because Beijing wanted them leaked. But from the limited information available, the White Emperor is thought to have an expanded internal weapons bay for heavier air-to-ground munitions, along with enhanced avionics for improved pilot-machine interaction and simplified maintenance. Chinese sources claim that it can achieve supersonic speeds, with some speculating that this plane can go to hypersonic speeds with a range exceeding 4,500 miles.
It is believed that this jet is part of a larger “Nantianmen Project,” a futuristic initiative exploring space-air combat systems that includes integration of artificial intelligence, stealth drones, and advanced sensors.
And the White Emperor, like the F-47, has a tailless design, hinting at a high power-to-weight ratio.
Is the Plane for Real? Or Is Beijing Trying to Trick America?
Interestingly, if Beijing’s claims are to be believed, the White Emperor’s design team must have overcome a set of immense technical challenges—especially if the reporting that the plane is capable of operating at the edge of space is accurate. The Americans have struggled for decades with such spaceplanes, like the X-15. And these innovations would not have been significantly cheaper to create in China, which has a far lower overall military budget than the United States.
Of course, China is an advanced and intelligence power that may have overcome whatever complications the Americans could not. But it is also a possibility that China is overhyping their plane to trick the Americans into blowing their defense budget on the F-47—knowing the Americans will never be able to produce enough of these planes in a reliable way and diverting those funds from more fruitful military endeavors.
Of course, China could mass produce their own complex systems like the sixth-generation warplane. Would they want to, though?
For all the talk about the sixth-generation warplane, it is a marginal enhancement over the previous fifth-generation plane—and China has yet to fully build their arsenal of fifth-generation planes. Why would Beijing still be investing in those systems if their sixth-generation plane is as good as they say it is?
Not only is China a capable industrialized military, but the strategists who lead the Chinese military are cunning. They may well be overhyping their sixth-generation plane to get the Pentagon to pour their limited resources into a boondoggle like the F-47, while they have no intention of building their own sixth-generation system out.
But until America’s intelligence community can get greater insight on these questions, no more money should be wasted on going tit-for-tat with China on the sixth-generation warplane. Instead, the Pentagon should be better stewards of the tax dollars they have already received—and use them to enhance the systems already available to the U.S. military.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter@WeTheBrandon.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.