This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Aug 26, 2024. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
A test model is shown at the Chinese test range on Feb. 12, 2024.
A mystery aircraft model exposed by commercial satellites on a Chinese radar cross section test range reveals new features of an advanced design, which is shaped and sized similarly to the cranked-kite configuration of the Northrop Grumman X-47B.
The test model was found on a known Chinese site for testing the stealth characteristics of military aircraft such as Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon fighter and GJ-11 Sharp Sword uncrewed aircraft system (UAS).
The site near the city of Baoding in eastern Hebei province includes two poles for mounting test models and a mobile hangar structure on rails, which allows the range to shroud objects even as they are moved around the facility. China constructed the test facility between November 2010 and April 2013, a review of Google Earth’s imagery archive shows.
Despite the mobile hangar, Chinese officials allowed this new test model to be visible to overhead satellites on several days during the last six months. Remote sensing satellites by Airbus and Planet captured images of the aircraft in the same position on the eastern extreme end of the test facility.
On Feb. 12, 2024, an Airbus image still viewable on Google Earth shows the unidentified aircraft on a concrete surface. The aircraft is surrounded by unidentified clutter on one side and a small shed on the other.
Another image captured by a Planet satellite three months later on May 20 shows the unidentified aircraft in the same position, with another aircraft—likely a J-20 fighter—on the other side of the mobile hangar.
Asked by Aviation Week to analyze the object, Michael Dahm, a former intelligence officer now working at the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies, estimated that the aircraft has a wingspan of 57 ft. and a length of 36.5 ft. Both dimensions are similar to the 62 ft. wingspan and 38 ft. length of the X-47B, a former U.S. Navy-funded demonstrator for a carrier-based surveillance and strike UAS.
But the model also reveals several differences with the Northrop design. The cropped wingtips of the X-47 are missing on the Chinese aircraft. The inboard wing sweep also appears slightly shallower than Northrop’s design. A pair of canted vertical tails also appear on the trailing edge of the Chinese aircraft, a feature that may help mitigate the adverse yaw effect produced by a tailless, flying wing aircraft.
Engine inlets are not visible on the Chinese test article, but they could be omitted from the test model, designed into the bottom half of the aircraft or simply not obvious due to the resolution of the commercial satellite imagery.
Notably, the Chinese aircraft also differs from the dimensions and wing design of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation CH-7 design concept, which also features a cranked-kite approach invented by Northrop for the X-47B.
It is not clear if the Chinese test article represents a full-scale aircraft or a subscale model for an even larger design.
A number of flying-wing aircraft models have appeared in public exhibits by the Chinese defense industry and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. Many are never seen again after a brief display at an air show or convention, but some, like the GJ-11, proceed into full-scale development and production for military service.
Chinese officials have announced plans to field a large stealth bomber known as the Xian H-20. U.S. intelligence agencies have consistently reported to Congress that entry-into-service is not expected for several more years.
Related Content
