Key Points
- China launched new official footage exhibiting the GJ-11 stealth UCAV working alongside the J-20 fighter.
- The video signifies the GJ-11 has entered common coaching and operational use inside the Chinese Air Force.
The Chinese Air Force has launched new official footage of the GJ-11 uncrewed fight air car, marking the primary time the plane has been proven each inside a hangar and conducting flight operations.
The video, just lately printed by Chinese state media, consists of scenes of the flying-wing drone working alongside a J-20S stealth fighter, underscoring its supposed position as a part of China’s superior air fight formations.
According to the fabric launched, the GJ-11 has additionally been given an official designation by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, referred to as Xuanlong, translated by Chinese media as “Fantasy Dragon.” The footage follows its earlier public look in September throughout a navy parade in Beijing, the place a full-scale mannequin of the plane was displayed.
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The GJ-11 has been in improvement for greater than a decade. A prototype with a extra fundamental low-observable format reportedly performed its first flight in 2013. The newly proven plane includes a extra refined flying-wing design supposed to cut back radar visibility. The video depicts the drone in what seems to be a routine coaching atmosphere, signaling that the system is not confined to experimental testing and has entered operational service with the Chinese Air Force.
The GJ-11 is meant to function alongside the J-20, China’s main stealth fighter. The pairing displays a broader shift towards what protection officers in China have described as “manned-unmanned teaming,” integrating remotely operated plane to increase the attain, strike capability, and survivability of crewed fighter formations. In this idea, the uncrewed system conducts missions corresponding to surveillance, digital assault, or direct strikes, decreasing the danger to the fighter and its pilot.
The GJ-11 is regularly in comparison with Russia’s S-70 “Okhotnik” unmanned fight plane, which was additionally supposed to function in coordination with the Su-57 fighter. However, whereas the S-70 stays on the testing stage, Chinese media offered the GJ-11 as already shifting by its operational deployment course of. The latest launch emphasizes that the system is now a part of lively coaching cycles reasonably than demonstration flights.
The footage additionally means that the GJ-11 is housed in devoted infrastructure and maintained as a part of customary squadron-level operations. The plane is proven taxiing, taking off, and flying in managed formation. However, the promotional video didn’t embody particulars concerning weapons configurations, vary, onboard sensors, or satellite tv for pc steering, and no efficiency specs had been listed. The presentation as a substitute centered on the presence of the plane and its place inside the strategic imaginative and prescient of the Chinese Air Force.
In a broader context, the discharge of this footage comes at a time when a number of air forces, together with these of the United States, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific area, are growing uncrewed fight plane that complement crewed stealth fighters. For U.S. audiences, the closest analog could be the rising “collaborative fight plane” ideas tied to platforms such because the F-22 and F-35, the place unmanned methods might carry sensors or weapons, scout forward of fighters, or draw enemy defenses.
