China's fifth-generation fighter also adopted a three-section "ridgeline" side strip similar to the F-22, and a canard with obvious dihedral angle was installed in front of the inlet. This should be because the installation position of the canard is in the same plane as the main wing, and the dihedral angle can improve the vortex position and ensure it to cross the upper wing surface of the main wing. Sidebars and canards appear at the same time, so China's fifth-generation fighter makes full use of "vortex lift" than the F-22. China's fifth-generation fighter plane adopts the outward-inclined double vertical tail design with full vertical tail. This is a design that combines the use of "vortex lift". The increase of vortex strength will affect the vertical tail and reduce the longitudinal stability of the aircraft, so it is necessary to reduce the vertical tail area; However, reducing the vertical tail area will reduce the vertical tail efficiency, which needs to be solved by using full-motion vertical tail.
In addition, China's fifth-generation fighter also has ventral fins that the F-22 does not have, which is a measure to increase the longitudinal stability of the aircraft at high angle of attack. Russia's T-50 also adopts the ventral fin design with full motion and vertical tail. The ventral fin will add extra weight, which will adversely affect stealth. Whether it will be cancelled later may depend on the flight test. China's fifth generation fighter used DSI inlet. The DSI inlet should have been first used in American F-35 fighter, and then China's Cheng Fei was also used in Xiaolong fighter. DSI inlet eliminates the air boundary layer through the three-dimensional bulge in front of the inlet, which has the advantages of light weight, wide adaptive speed range and no influence on stealth. China's fifth-generation fighter's air inlet is close to the slender quadrangle on the side of the fuselage, and the 3D projection is located in front of the upper half of the air inlet, which is unique in design.
From the point of view that the landing gear cabin is located on the side of the fuselage, the inlet design of China's fifth-generation fighter adopts S-shaped bending, and the transverse dimension of the inlet is very narrow, which is estimated to completely shield the engine fan and is beneficial to stealth. It can also be inferred from the fact that the landing gear compartment is located on the side of the fuselage. Like the F-22, China's fifth-generation fighter has its main bomb compartment located in the belly of the fuselage. This is also an important stealth measure. Internal weapons can eliminate the mutual reflection effect between external weapons and the body, and at the same time can greatly reduce flight resistance. It is reported that the relevant factories in China have developed a telescopic missile launcher for launching missiles in the bomb bay to cooperate with the development of the fifth-generation fighter.
It is not clear whether China's fifth-generation fighter will set up a side auxiliary bomb bay between the air inlet and the landing gear bay. The F-22 has placed two smaller AIM-9X combat missiles in this position. There is no protruding infrared detection system in front of the cockpit of China's fifth-generation fighter. A distributed infrared detection system may be adopted, similar to the DAS system of F-35, that is, optical windows are installed in different parts of the fuselage, and then the images obtained by different devices are fused by the background data processing system. The advantage of this is that the mechanical rotating mechanism is omitted, and the optical device can be embedded into the fuselage to the maximum extent. In addition, the sawtooth processing of the window will reduce the volume and weight of the system and improve the stealth ability of the aircraft.