Key Points – Recent satellite imagery from Planet Labs, taken on May 14, 2025, over a Chinese airbase in Xinjiang, reveals what appears to be a new, large, stealthy high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) drone.
-Analysts estimate its wingspan at approximately 170 feet, comparable to the US B-2 Spirit bomber, suggesting it is designed for long-range missions in the vast Indo-Pacific theater.
CH-7 Drone from China. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-The flying-wing aircraft features an angled tail and a central domed section.
-While its appearance in commercial satellite imagery could be a deliberate act of strategic messaging by China, it signals significant progress in Beijing’s unmanned stealth aircraft development.
China Building a New Stealth Bomber Drone? Here Is the Evidence
Recent satellite imagery taken over China by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite imaging company, shows what appears to be a Chinese high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) drone with attributes typical of stealthy aircraft parked near a set of hangars.
The satellite imagery does hint at the presence of an angled tail of some kind, a surface that would significantly assist in maneuvering the aircraft.
At first blush, the tail is reminiscent of the F-117’s tail arrangement.
However, the quality of the imagery, unfortunately, does not allow for a more minute parsing of the aircraft’s finer details.
Planet Labs took the images on May 14, 2025, although they have only recently been made available in their satellite imaging archive.
The airbase, located in China’s Xinjiang province, has been involved in previous Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle efforts.
Sizing Up
TWZ, a website focusing on defense issues that is well respected, estimates the aircraft’s wingspan to be approximately 170 feet and notes that the B-2 Spirit, the United States Air Force’s stealth bomber, has a wingspan of 172 feet.
It is also larger than the upcoming manned B-21 Raider stealth bomber. If those figures hold, the Chinese aircraft would be among the largest unmanned aircraft in China — or, indeed, in the United States. The aircraft’s great size could prove to be a distinct asset.
“The planform is similar to that of the B-21, with the wingtips appearing to be clipped at an angle, similar to it and the B-2. While there is a white area that appears to give the left wing a sharper tip, that is not the case as proven by the shadows below it. The sweep looks less than a B-2 or B-21, pointing to endurance at altitude as a significant design driver,” TWZ surmised.
The B-21 Raider was unveiled to the public at a ceremony December 2, 2022 in..Palmdale, Calif. Designed to operate in tomorrow’s high-end threat environment, the B-21 will play a critical role in ensuring America’s enduring airpower capability. (U.S. Air Force photo)
“There also appears to be a center barrel or domed section,” the website adds. “This is customary on flying-wing designs. It can house a cockpit and additional internal volume for a manned aircraft or even the intake and the engines for unmanned ones. Beyond line-of-sight communications systems are also usually installed here. The length from the nose to tail is roughly 46-feet, making it a more svelte design than the B-21, for instance.”
Location, Location, Location
The aircraft’s large size could be beneficial in terms of fuel capacity, as a larger airframe and planform would have more internal volume available for fuel than a smaller aircraft.
Take the B-2 bomber, for example. The stealthy bomber’s large size is partially responsible for its long range of 9,600 kilometers. Increased range is a boon for any aircraft — but most especially within the context of the Indo-Pacific theater.
The Indo-Pacific is the largest combat command of the United States. It is also home to the two largest countries in the world by population — China and India — as well as the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia. A significant portion of world trade also passes through trade routes that crisscross the region.
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One of its most defining features, however, is the vast distances that separate the many islands and atolls that dot the region.
On Purpose? Or by Accident?
“What is critical to state here is that the emergence of this aircraft is very unlikely to be an accident. China is fully aware that commercial satellites are passing over at any given time, and they could keep hidden any program they wanted. Mistakes could happen, but, taken at face value, it’s far more likely China was ready for this aircraft to be seen by satellites,” TWZ wrote.
But, they conceded, “it’s also possible that they could use exactly this knowledge for information warfare purposes, rolling out a mockup or decoy in order to confuse foreign intelligence units, which are watching this facility far more closely and with much better resolution than what a publicly accessible commercial satellite service can provide. These factors are always worth remembering. Still, the fact is that this facility also looks built for such a machine, at least in part.”
Although the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is still qualitatively behind the United States, it is making significant strides and is quickly closing that gap. Jet engine technology has historically been an obstacle for Chinese aviation.
Although the PLAAF has “begun to switch to domestically produced engines… some [more capable] Russian engines may remain in use,” a senior Pentagon official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. That individual added that “the PLA Air Force is also still working on upgrading the J-20.” Upgrading other aircraft is also a long-term goal.
China’s J-20 Stealth Fighter. Image Credit: Chinese Weibo/Screenshot.
China’s New Stealth Bomber: What Happens Now?
Aside from the aircraft’s fuselage and planform, radar-absorbent coatings would be a necessary prerequisite for a truly stealthy aircraft. But barring additional higher-resolution imagery surfacing, the aircraft in question will remain, for now at least, somewhat mysterious.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. He also covers the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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pagar
June 17, 2025 at 9:37 am
This latest thingmajig is a waste of resources.
Unless ya are allowed to base them next door.
Better to develop long-flying or long-duration FOBS gliders.
Currently, the best FOBS glider can fly for as long as ninety (90) minutes.
How about developing a FOBS glider that can fly for three times as long, like four to five hours.
An orbiting space station could be configured to coordinate the flights of all the flying FOBS gliders.
Several FOBS gliders flying overhead would cool the hottest of all hotheads.