China's fifth-generation combat aircraft prototype, shown here in a high off-nadir satellite image captured by DigitalGlobe on Jan. 11, the same day it appears to have flown for the first time. Though the imagery was affected by some light haze in the area, reports suggest that during an 18-minute inaugural flight, the J-20 prototype was accompanied by a Chengdu J-10S Vigorous Dragon twin-seat fighter that served as a chase plane, likely the same J-10 visible here to its right. Both flew from the Chengdu Wenjiang airbase outside Chengdu in central China. The Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute is developing the J-20, and photos of the aircraft — which began surfacing on China military watchers' websites in late December 2010 — show an exterior design emphasizing radar-evading stealth shaping. Even with these photos and the recent video of the plane's inaugural flight, little can be said about the status, sophistication or capabilities of the new design.
