A two-seat variant of the J-20 fighter is expected to make its debut at China’s Zhuhai Airshow to be held in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province from September 28 to October 3, as the Chinese Internet has recently circulated a photo taken at the site of the upcoming Zhuhai Airshow, showing a mock-up of a two-seat J-20 fighter jet.
As early as August last year, it was reported that Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, the developer of the J-20, was converting the fighter into two-seat stealth “early warning fighter”, which would be the world’s first stealth fighter with room for two pilots.
And in early January, four two-seat J-20s were shown in a J-20 promotional video released by China Aviation Industry Corporation on its official Weibo “Aviation Industry”.
The two-seat J-20 variant is likely to be born to adapt to the new air warfare model, where the aircraft acts as an information fusion and processing node without the support of an early warning aircraft, requiring a dedicated person to command multiple manned or unmanned aircraft for joint operations.
The U.S. F-22 fighter jet was planned to have a two-seat version, but it was canceled at a later stage.