The second copy of China’s stealth fighter prototype has just flown at a research facility in the city of Chengdu. The first flight of the J-20 Mighty Dragon with the nose number 2002 doubles Beijing’s stealth test fleet.

The first aircraft, painted black like its predecessor, made its first appearance in April in photos snapped by Chinese bloggers. The second J-20 spent a month or so performing ground tests before launching on its inaugural test sortie sometime in the past few days.

With two airframes to work with, the Chengdu engineers can now double the roughly five-flights-a-month development programme apparently aimed at producing a front line stealth warplane.