Landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier is often described as threading a needle in a hurricane. It demands surgical precision, iron nerves, and systems that leave no room for error. For China’s next-generation fighter, the Chengdu J-36, this challenge is compounded by radical design decisions that break from traditional naval aviation norms. Now, Chinese engineers are racing to develop an advanced computer-aided landing system to make carrier operations feasible for this ambitious aircraft.
A recent paper in the peer-reviewed Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, reported by the South China Morning Post, confirmed that the team behind the J-36 is working on a complex model to solve this problem. The goal: allow pilots to safely land the massive, stealthy, three-engine fighter on moving carriers amid unpredictable seas.
The Chengdu J-36, first spotted in December last year, shocked aviation circles with its radical departure from standard fighter design. Unlike China’s current carrier aircraft, the J-15 — based on the Russian Su-33 — the J-36 is tailless and relies on sophisticated aerodynamics to achieve stability and stealth.
The J-15, with its canards and vertical stabilizers, was designed with slow-speed control in mind, making carrier landings achievable with less computational support. In contrast, the J-36’s sleek, angular lines, optimized for speed and stealth, create a nightmare scenario for low-speed carrier approaches. It must remain stable without the aerodynamic crutches traditional designs rely upon.
“Landing a sixth-generation aircraft on a carrier deck is fraught with risk,” wrote Tao Chenggang, deputy chief designer at the AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute. “The margin for error is razor-thin.”
The J-36’s problems start with basic physics. It’s a heavy aircraft. Its tri-engine configuration, while offering impressive thrust and redundancy, adds mass. That mass drives up stall speed, forcing landings to occur at higher velocities compared to lighter jets. Higher landing speeds shrink reaction times and increase braking loads. Arrestor wires must catch the aircraft with brutal efficiency. Any deviation can lead to catastrophic failures.
The tri-engine layout introduces further complexity. Balancing thrust across three engines during slow-speed maneuvers is treacherous. Small variations in output between engines can induce dangerous yawing motions just when the pilot needs utmost stability. While minor imbalances are tolerable at altitude, during a carrier landing, they’re potentially fatal.
To counter these threats, the J-36 team is building an advanced computer-aided landing system. Inspired partly by robotics, the system integrates direct force control — allowing pilots to adjust lift and attitude independently of traditional pitch commands. Rather than relying solely on pilot skill, the system uses real-time algorithms to anticipate disturbances and correct the aircraft’s course.
At its core, the system continuously models the flight environment using Jacobian matrices and Fixed Time Disturbance Observers. These mathematical tools assess external forces, such as crosswinds or deck movements, and adjust control surfaces proactively rather than reactively. It’s an approach borrowed from the field of robotic manipulators, where precision control in uncertain environments is standard.
This allows the J-36 to counteract sudden shifts caused by a moving ship deck or turbulent winds up to six meters high, offering stability that human reflexes alone could never guarantee.
In contrast to the US Navy’s Magic Carpet system — which relies on fixed control gains for predictable carrier-borne aircraft like the F/A-18 Super Hornet — China’s approach dynamically recalibrates the control surfaces as flexible entities. Every surface can be subtly and continuously adjusted, offering a much finer degree of control.
This gives pilots a much steadier approach, but it also demands massive computational resources and real-time data processing — a feat that would have been impossible just a decade ago.
One of the J-36’s greatest enemies is the ‘ship airwake.’ As a carrier moves through water, it creates complex turbulence patterns that ripple into the air above. These chaotic airflows can toss a lightweight jet like a paper airplane. For a heavy, fast-moving aircraft like the J-36, sudden air disturbances could throw off an approach within seconds of touchdown.
Dealing with airwake turbulence is a known problem for naval aviation, but the J-36’s aerodynamic profile — optimized for high-speed, stealthy flight — makes it especially vulnerable. Its lack of vertical stabilizers limits its passive damping of lateral movements. Thus, its reliance on active control mechanisms is even more critical.
Engineers are modeling airwake patterns at unprecedented levels of detail, using supercomputers to simulate every possible deck motion and sea state. The computer-aided landing system then uses these simulations to “learn” how to respond to turbulence before the pilot even encounters it in real life.
Beyond flight control challenges, the sheer physical demands of carrier operations have forced the J-36 design team into tough compromises.
Carrier landings subject aircraft to punishing forces. Arrestor hooks must snatch the aircraft out of the air within a few hundred feet. The landing gear must absorb shock loads equivalent to dropping a fully loaded jet from a three-story building.
Thus, the J-36’s gear is heavy and reinforced. Dual front wheels and tandem main wheels give it a robust stance, but at the cost of extra weight. Folding wings, necessary for compact storage aboard ship, further complicate structural integrity. Each modification shifts the aircraft’s center of gravity, impacts stealth performance, and adds failure points.
Every gram must be justified against operational requirements. Every addition must be reconciled with the fighter’s need to remain low-observable to enemy radar.
The challenges aren’t limited to the aircraft itself. China’s current aircraft carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, operate using ski-jump ramps rather than catapults. Ski-jumps limit the maximum takeoff weight of an aircraft, restricting how much fuel and ordnance it can carry.
For a heavy stealth jet like the J-36, that’s a severe handicap. To unleash the full potential of the J-36, China’s navy is building more advanced carriers equipped with electromagnetic launch systems (EMALS), similar to the US Navy’s latest Ford-class carriers.
Only with catapult assistance can the J-36 launch fully fueled and fully armed. Without it, its range, payload, and therefore its tactical utility, are sharply reduced.
Why invest so heavily in an aircraft that seems so difficult to operate from a carrier?
The answer lies in power projection. Carrier-based stealth fighters dramatically expand the ability to strike at distant targets while avoiding enemy radar and air defenses. With a carrier deck full of J-36s, China’s navy could project force across the Pacific and beyond, challenging U.S. dominance in ways previously unthinkable.
Moreover, having a naval sixth-generation fighter allows for greater operational flexibility. It reduces dependence on vulnerable airbases. It complicates enemy targeting calculations. It sends a clear message of technological parity with or even superiority over rival powers.
The J-36 is not just another aircraft. It’s a symbol of national ambition.
Despite the hype, the J-36 remains in its infancy. Flight tests are ongoing. Software and hardware are being tweaked continually. The computer-aided landing system is still being validated against real-world conditions. Integration with carrier air wings is years away.
Adapting carrier operations to accommodate the J-36’s needs will also take time. New deck procedures, maintenance protocols, and pilot training programs must be devised and practiced. Every new technology brings unforeseen problems, especially when lives and billions of dollars are at stake.
But if successful, the payoff is immense. A fleet of stealthy, tri-engine sixth-generation fighters operating from catapult-equipped carriers would put China in a rarefied league.
It’s easy to design an aircraft optimized for one task — stealth, or speed, or maneuverability. Designing one that can do everything — and then safely land it on a moving carrier deck — demands an entirely different level of skill, resources, and determination.
