China Doubles Production Efficiency of J-20 Stealth Fighter Components Using Lights-Out Factory

China has more than doubled the production efficiency of stealth fighter components in a dark factory where autonomous vehicles and AI-driven machinery operate nearly 24 hours a day, South China Morning Post reported. The process once required employees to monitor its round-the-clock operations.

The plant can now produce the skeleton of an aircraft in near darkness, according to the official Science and Technology Daily.

Dark factories are facilities designed to operate with little to no human intervention. Dark factories remove the need for lighting. They cut energy consumption and operational costs. The lights-out factory now produces components for the J-20 fighter jet.

The J-20 is also known as the Mighty Dragon. It is seen as China’s answer to the American F-22 Raptor. The J-20 is a fifth-generation warplane designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. Chengdu Aircraft Corporation is a subsidiary of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The J-20 was declared combat-ready in 2018. Mass production of the J-20 began in 2020. The J-20 contained thousands of unique components, Song Ge, head of the Chengdu factory’s digital manufacturing centre, told Science and Technology Daily.

“The J-20 contained thousands of unique components.”

“— Song Ge, head of the Chengdu factory’s digital manufacturing centre South China Morning Post reported that the advance stands as a symbol of Beijing’s military modernisation. The efficiency gains arrived after years of incremental automation at the Chengdu facility, where human oversight had been necessary even during overnight shifts. Production of the fighter’s complex skeleton now proceeds with minimal staff presence. The dark factory’s near-24-hour operation relies on AI-driven machinery that eliminated previous lighting requirements. Energy savings compound across the thousands of unique components needed for each J-20 airframe. Officials described the facility as fully capable of lights-out manufacturing for the stealth jet’s core structures.”