The first Chinese stealth unmanned combat drone conducted a successful maiden flight Thursday, November 21, according to accounts by Chinese media and photos taken from a popular Chinese military website. Lijian, or “sharp sword” in English, aced its first test...
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The first Chinese stealth unmanned combat drone conducted a successful maiden flight Thursday, November 21, according to accounts by Chinese media and photos taken from a popular Chinese military website.
Lijian, or “sharp sword” in English, aced its first test flight in southwest China, making the People’s Republic of China the fourth nation to successfully fly a stealth unmanned aerial vehicle.
The test flight lasted nearly 20 minutes, according to accounts on cjdby.net, a Chinese military forum, and later picked up by the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and the South China Morning stories.
Several photos show the delta-wing, single-engine drone in flight early Thursday afternoon.
Lijian was made for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and Navy Air Force for combat, tracking and reconnaissance, said Xu Guangyu, a former PLA major general who is now a senior researcher at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
Lijian was designed jointly by the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group and Shenyang Aviation Corporation, both of China’s top aircraft manufacturer, Aviation Industry Corp of China. The project was launched in 2009, and the drone's first ground test was conducted on December 13, 2012.
The information office at Aviation Industry Corp of China would not confirm Thursday’s flight, according to China Daily.
