Pictures of Sharp Sword first emerged on Chinese social media in 2013 and that same year a prototype conducted its first flight. At that time, the design featured an engine arrangement with a completely exposed and decidedly non-stealthy exhaust. The GJ-11 displayed now has a concealed exhaust and generally more streamlined rear aspect. The intake may also have been revised. It is impossible to tell from the available pictures and video from the parade whether either the intake or exhaust systems feature any sort of ducting that could further conceal the engine, especially its fan face, and further improve the drone's stealth qualities. It seems safe to assume that incorporating these design features would at least be the eventual goal.

The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP The GJ-11 Sharp Sword on parade on Oct. 1, 2019.

Chinese Internet A side view of the Sharp Sword prototype in 2013 with its completely exposed engine exhaust.

There has also been much speculation since then about what the Sharp Sword's specific roles and missions might be over the years, with earlier reports indicating that it might be able to carry two 2,000-pound class munitions in internal bays and use a satellite data-link to conduct long-range missions well beyond the Chinese mainland. More recently, there had been unconfirmed, but not unreasonable reports that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) might be interested in employing a version of Sharp Sword from its aircraft carriers in an unarmed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capacity, a concept The War Zone recently explored in detail. Narrators on China Central Television who were giving a play-by-play of the parade and the weapons and other military hardware on display reportedly said that the GJ-11's primary mission would be conducting deep penetrating strikes on critical targets. The "GJ" in the designation also stands for "gonji," or "attack" in English, which would seem to further confirm that this unmanned aircraft is a strike-focused UCAV first and foremost.

Of course, this wouldn't preclude it from taking on ISR missions, whether it be from bases on land or Chinese aircraft carriers, or from versions of it being built specifically for such a role. Previous reports had suggested that the Sharp Sword prototype was supposed to lead into an improved design that would be operational by 2020. At the same time, it appears to be very likely, if not probable, that the GJ-11 on parade in Beijing was a mockup of an improved variant that is still in development rather than an actual flyable aircraft. The drone on display lacked a wide variety of features one would expect to see on a flying aircraft, such as visible panel or seam lines, or tape sealing them, any indication of thermal protective treatment to the exhaust area, or air data systems, and the list goes on. At the 2018 Zhuhai Air Show, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) revealed its own UCAV design, the CH-7, which has very broad similarities to the Northrop Grumman X-47B. CASC had a mockup on display that still had a number of features, including panel lines, that one would expect to see on a real aircraft. There are even higher fidelity mockups out there, such as the one for the X-47B itself.

Chinese Internet A mockup of the CASC CH-7 UCAV at the 2018 Zhuhai airshow.

Some observers have also suggested that a number of facets in the trailing edge of the wing on the Sharp Sword in the parade may be part of a non-traditional control arrangement that uses blasts of air rather than conventional control surfaces. It is possible that China might be interested in this sort of technology, in general, but actual examples of work on "morphing wings" and "fluidic thrust vectoring" elsewhere in the world show that these developments are very much in their infancy. Regardless, official pictures from the parade show the clear outlines of traditional control surfaces. As such, the faceted areas indicate where the control surfaces would come close to joining or are otherwise simply a feature of the design.

China Military A look at the rear of the GJ-11 showing the revised exhaust and the faceted areas in the trailing edges of the wings.

China Military Another rear shot of the GJ-11 Sharp Sword on parade, making it clear that the design has traditional control surfaces.

Anna Ratkoglo / Sputnik via AP Another view of the GJ-11 Sharp Sword on parade.