On May 17, 2025, at a roundtable meeting held in Qatar, U.S. President Trump discussed the development and upgrade of American fighter jets. He also accused the Chinese Communist Party of copying the technology of the American F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet.
Trump announced that the U.S. is working on developing a new twin-engine fighter jet, the F-55, and planning to upgrade the existing F-22 “Raptor” to introduce the “Super F-22” version.
“I believe the F-22 is the most beautiful fighter jet in the world, and we will launch the ‘Super F-22,’ a very modern version,” he said.
Following that, the President accused China of copying the American F-22 fighter jet.
“I don’t know if you know, but do you know who copied it? China. They copied it. They said, ‘That’s the F-22.’ They copied our design, but they can’t replicate our engines or anything else too quickly. We will introduce the ‘Super F-22,'” Trump said. “To me, this is the most beautiful fighter jet in history. So I want to do this.”
China’s fifth-generation fighter jet, the J-20, has long been accused of copying the American F-22 fighter jet. The J-20 made its first flight in 2011 and was put into service in 2017.
Reports on the technology and capabilities of the J-20 have led the U.S. to take notice of the similarities between it and American fighter jets since 2015. An Associated Press report stated, “The reality is that some of its technologies likely come from the U.S. itself.”
James Anderson, who served as Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, said in an interview with Fox News Digital that China developed the stealth fighter J-20 by copying U.S. military aircraft technology.
“What we know is that without espionage activities, the J-20 fighter jet from China could not be more advanced than it is now,” Anderson said. “Over the years, they [China] have greatly benefited from theft.”
Anderson explained that China (CCP) uses a range of espionage techniques, from “old-fashioned” and “low-tech” spies and honey traps to bribery, to recruit American contractors, university scholars, and government officials. Additionally, they employ more advanced methods, such as cyber activities to obtain critical data on U.S. military systems.
“Unfortunately, they [China] have had some success in that area,” Anderson said, adding that China spent “over a decade” studying U.S. fighter jets and incorporated that technology into the design and construction of the J-20.
In June 2014, Chinese resident Su Bin, based in Vancouver, was arrested by Canadian police, went to court in July, on charges of assisting two Chinese accomplices in hacking activities, invading the servers of Boeing and Lockheed Martin companies, and stealing confidential military data, including F-22, F-35 fighter jets, and C-17 transport planes.
While the J-20 bears similarities to the F-22 fighter jet, its combat performance still cannot match that of the F-22. Michael Kofman, a senior research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) in the U.S., expressed doubts to Business Insider last year, stating he did not believe the J-20 could have outstanding avionics and software, and that its engine design remains poor as ever.
In November 2024, China unveiled its new fighter jet, the J-35A, at the Zhuhai Air Show. The J-35A bears resemblance to the U.S.’s fifth-generation stealth fighter F-35. An article by “War Zone” News at the time suggested that many elements of the J-35A were at least to a large extent inspired by the F-35, and even copied from it, including its DSI inlet, cockpit canopy, and basic configuration.