China reports first test flight of stealth drone

Michael Winter | USA TODAY

China has successfully tested its first stealth "killer" drone, the official state media reported Friday.

The jet-powered Lijian ("Sharp Sword") flew for about 20 minutes Thursday in Chengdu, in southwestern China, the China Daily newspaper reported. Video in May showed the unmanned drone taxiing down a runway.

The U.S. military-affairs site Defense Tech says it "looks a a lot like" the U.S. Navy's X-47B and may be "a reverse-engineered copy of Russia's Mikoyan Skat. "Not much else is known" about its capabilities, the site says.

"The successful flight shows the nation has again narrowed the air-power disparity between itself and Western nations," the China Daily said, according to the BBC.

Besides the United States and China, Britain and France also have jet stealth drones.

The test flight was reportedly first discussed on a Chinese military forum and then picked up by other official outlets, the Russian TV site RT said.

According to the South China Morning Post, the drone was developed for the Army and Navy air forces for "combat, tracking and reconnaissance."

"The drone, which is capable of flying undetected at high altitudes while providing high-resolution video and other intelligence, will let maritime departments keep abreast of developments in the East and South China seas and will help Beijing make accurate decisions when dealing with territorial disputes with its neighbors," said Xu Guangyu, a former top officer now with the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.

But how "stealthy" is it?

The New York Times' Sinosphere blog writes that the Lijian "certainly appears stealthy, but without any details on the materials used, for instance, it is impossible to tell whether the reality matches the deadly looks."

As part of its military modernization, China has also been testing two stealth jet fighters and is developing a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles "matching virtually every category deployed by the U.S.," the BBC says.