By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) – The design for China's flying wing drone has been revealed, according to a Wednesday report by The War Zone website.
Pictures of the new twin-jet engine flying-wing drone have been circulating on social media since Tuesday, showing its design, it said.
The images reportedly recently originated from the city of Changchun in northeastern China’s Jilin province, which is scheduled to host the Changchun Air Show on Friday.
The images suggest the drone resembles a developed test article rather than a mock-up, featuring a noticeable dorsal hump at the center of its body with air intakes positioned on either side.
At the rear, it has two separate exhausts, likely due to engines buried within the upper section of the central body.
The uncrewed aircraft has some features that fit a stealthy design, including a chine (longitudinal line of sharp change) along the leading edge of the center and the shaping of the engine intakes.
The core design of the drone leaves ample space in its midsection, potentially accommodating various payloads, including additional fuel, sensors, communications arrays, or even a weapons bay.
If the images circulating are from a test article, some elements of its design and build might differ from the anticipated final version.
Potential roles and missions of the design currently remain unknown.
China has been developing a growing range of flying-wing unmanned aircraft, including combat ones as well as high-altitude intelligence-gathering platforms.
The South China Morning Post also reported last month on the existence of a new stealth flying-wing drone possibly undergoing test flights, citing images on social media.