Someone please correct me, I think I read a post, few years ago by Yang Wei (if I recall correctly) based on his interview. In this interview, he discussed the concept of an 'aircraft family' for the Next Generation Fighter. If this is the case, we might see several different 6th-generation aircraft designed for specific roles, rather than just two or three types.
@Michael @Deino Do you guys remember or have any information about this or something similar?
What I found so far is this:
In an interview with China Daily, Yang Wei, the chief designer of the J-20, stated that designers will develop variants of the radar-evading J-20 and will open research on its successor – a sixth-generation fighter jet.
He specifically said:
- "We are not complacent about what we have achieved. We will develop the J-20 into a large family and keep strengthening its information-processing and intelligent capacities."
This indicates a future where the J-20 might evolve into a family of aircraft, potentially optimized for different roles such as air superiority, strike, electronic warfare, or even unmanned operations.