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Stephen Chen

In 2021, as US defence contractors sketched concepts for a futuristic drone controlled by blasts of air instead of mechanical flaps, China quietly flew one.
Now, newly published research has revealed for the first time details of how Beijing outpaced Washington in this pivotal arms race.
Next-generation air dominance hinges on eliminating traditional control surfaces. Rudders, flaps and tail fins create radar reflections and thermal signatures.
Assist or even replace them with fluidic systems – steering jets via precise air pulses – and you gain more invisibility, fuel efficiency and even underwater manoeuvrability.
The Pentagon recognised this early on, but it was not until 2023 that the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) greenlit the X-65 programme, a radical drone designed to validate fluidic flight control, also known as CRANE (Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors).
The legendary US agency, birthplace of stealth jets and GPS, has always been a leader in futuristic tech.
But according to a paper by Professor Luo Zhenbing with China’s National University of Defence Technology (NUDT), published last month in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, America’s “revolutionary” project is already years behind China’s operational systems.

China’s technology outperforms what DARPA is still prototyping – and with far broader applications, according to Luo and his colleagues.
At the heart of China’s breakthrough is what Luo calls “dual synthetic jet” (DSJ) technology, which can generate a whoosh of air by vibrating ceramic plates in wing-mounted compartments.
Unlike standard US designs – which use single air chambers prone to breakdown – China’s DSJ units pair two chambers that fire pulses alternately, cancelling stress on parts.
This dual-chamber trick solves a critical flaw: pressure damage during dives or underwater use. NUDT tests show DSJ units last three times longer than US equivalents while using half the energy.
By tweaking pulse timing, engineers can now steer drones at will mid-flight with air jets “pushing” the plane left or right, up or down.
Meanwhile the jets can prevent ice build-up by blowing supercooled droplets off the wings.
But one of the most impressive applications occurs in engine thrust vectoring.
A three-flow nozzle design, first tested in 2023, showed that a drone can change course freely and swiftly with a vector engine that has no moving parts in its exhaust nozzle – a revolutionary design that has not been revealed to the world until now.

DSJ-enabled thrusters also allow a submersible drone to switch seamlessly from underwater “swimming” to aerial flight, a first for active flow systems, according to the researchers.
China’s first DSJ-controlled drones took flight in 2021. A fixed-wing UAV equipped with DSJ circulation control actuators on its wing tips demonstrated roll rates of 15.62 degrees per second without traditional control surfaces.
By 2023, NUDT engineers expanded the system to a flying-wing drone, mastering pitch, yaw and roll via fluidic thrust vectoring and reverse jet streams. Trials showed that maximum roll and yaw control rate outperformed mechanical counterparts in responsiveness.
“It is the result of more than two decades of hard work,” Luo and his colleagues said in the paper.
In 2024, Beijing established the Flow Control and Thermal Management Committee under its Aeronautical Society, marshalling academia and state-owned giants like the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to accelerate the application of the new technology.
DARPA’s X-65, by contrast, remains grounded, according to openly available information.
The big-tail drone – originally designed to validate fluidic controls for the US Air Force’s secretive Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter – is expected to make its first flight later this year.


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Science

DARPA is losing a critical next-gen stealth jet tech race to China: study

The Chinese drone that is powered by a vector engine with dual synthetic jet technology. Photo: National University of Defence Technology

Dual synthetic jets are at the heart of the Chinese design. Photo: National University of Defence Technology

DARPA in the US has been working for years on its X-65 stealth drone. Image: DARPA

How China is solving F-22’s stealth coating cracks with 3,000-year-old silk weaving tech

America’s F-22 jets are known to suffer coating cracks, but China is now using ancient weaving techniques to create a more advance type of coating to solve the problem. Photo: AFP

Extreme corrosion of the radar-absorbent coating on an F-22 Raptor. The US often has to apply new coating layers to its stealth fighters but China has developed technology that gives a longer-lasting solution. Photo: Handout

Could this ultra-flat antenna give China’s stealth fighters an edge?

Next-generation military jets, such as China’s J-20 Stealth fighter, could feature a new hi-tech ultra flat antenna that does not compromise operational frequency range or diminish the jet’s aerodynamics. Photo: Handout

Airborne ultra-low profile ultra-wideband omnidirectional antenna. Structure diagram of tightly coupled long slot element: (a) Traditional element and (b) Element with Short-circuit wall. Image: Handout

In an arms race for tech and talent, China blitzes as the US retreats

The sun rises near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. Beijing and Washington this week signaled vastly different priorities over their spending on science. Photo: Kyodo

China’s stratospheric airship can detect American F-35 fighter from nearly 2,000km: study

Chinese researchers say they can detect the US-made F-35 fighter jet from more than 1,800km away via its engine exhaust plume. Photo: US Air Force

China’s ‘two sessions’ 2025: with tech the X factor, does the GDP race still matter?

 Illustration: Henry Wong

News

China

As the US works on a new radical design for its latest stealth drone, the project is already lagging far behind China’s


As the US works on a new radical design for its latest stealth drone, the project is already lagging far behind China’s.


China's military weapons

China’s military

Drones