The military aviation and defense news blog The Aviationist has spent years tracking mysterious aircraft activity around U.S. restricted airspace. Its latest report highlights a thermal image that may reveal a previously unseen next-generation stealth fighter jet design featuring cranked-kite wings and canards near Area 51.

"Had to update this composite image with the latest mysterious aircraft. We have reported on all of them over the years, starting 12 years ago with the Amarillo and Wichita sightings, then the January 2026 image by Uncanny Expeditions, and now the most recent one by Project Fear," The Aviationist wrote on X.

The Aviationist cited a thermal image shared by the Project Fear YouTube channel earlier this week.

The Aviationist reached out to Project Fear for comment. Here's what they said:

Here's what I can say on it: This was an amazing capture! I met up with the team who recorded this to show them some potential spotting locations around the Area 51 perimeter after introducing them to the gear I often use for night sky monitoring – in this case thermal imaging cameras. We did not see anything particularly noteworthy that week, but a few days later, I get a call asking if I can take a look at something they'd captured on the thermal imager. As soon as they sent the footage over, I knew we were looking at something very interesting that has not been captured before.

Many theories are circulating on X about what exactly Project Fear captured on thermal imagery, including speculation that it could be tied to the U.S. Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program and the F-47 sixth-generation aircraft.

At the start of his second term, President Trump announced that the F-47 program would move ahead, with Boeing awarded a contract worth more than $20 billion.

Psyop? Certainly, someone wants to generate mystique around NGAD/F-47, reminding adversaries that U.S. black programs remain active.