New images show China’s largest stealth drone in testing

New satellite images have surfaced showing China’s largest known stealth drone undergoing testing at a secretive air base in China’s Xinjiang region, according to analysts tracking the program on social media.

Aviation researcher Andreas Rupprecht posted on LinkedIn that two new images had leaked showing the aircraft, known unofficially as the WZ-X, at what appears to be Malan Air Base. A separate image cited by defense outlet The War Zone and shared on social media showed the aircraft’s trailing edge in detail, describing it as “shallowly serrated,” a shaping technique used to reduce a stealth aircraft’s radar signature.

Neither China’s government nor its military has confirmed the aircraft’s existence, name or purpose. Everything known about the WZ-X comes from commercial satellite imagery and the analysts who study it.

Malan Air Base, located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has become the Chinese air force’s primary test site for uncrewed aircraft, according to Rupprecht, who has researched Chinese military aviation and aircraft serial numbers for years. The base also hosts the 178th UAV Brigade. Satellite imagery dating back to 2022 shows the site expanding steadily, with new hangars and taxiways that analysts believe are tied to the WZ-X and a second, still-unidentified stealth combat drone known as the GJ-X. Rupprecht compared Malan to Area 51 in the United States, both for its remote desert location and for its role housing China’s most secretive aircraft programs.

The WZ-X was first identified in satellite imagery in 2024, with additional images captured through 2025 and 2026. Analysts describe it as a twin-engine flying-wing design, similar in overall layout to the U.S. Air Force’s classified RQ-180 drone but considerably larger. Estimates place its wingspan at roughly 52 meters (173 feet), wider than a B-2 Spirit bomber, with a length of about 14 meters (46 feet).

The War Zone has reported that its wingspan makes it the largest Chinese flying-wing design identified to date.

Rupprecht said the aircraft’s two engines appear to draw air through a single intake mounted on top of the fuselage, reportedly shielded with a conformal mesh intended to reduce the aircraft’s radar cross-section. Analysts estimate the drone’s range at more than 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles), with a normal cruising altitude between 18 and 20 kilometers (59,000 and 66,000 feet) and a cruising speed of roughly Mach 0.5 to 0.65. Some sources have suggested the aircraft was developed by Nantong University in Jiangsu province, though this has not been independently confirmed.

Satellite imagery from Malan has also shown a second large flying-wing aircraft nearby, described by analysts as a heavier “cranked-kite” design with a wingspan of roughly 42 meters (137 feet), likely intended for lower-altitude missions and potentially capable of both surveillance and long-range strike. The War Zone has also identified a smaller, tailless drone resembling China’s sixth-generation fighter designs parked at the same base, alongside a Y-20 heavy transport aircraft, suggesting Malan supports multiple secretive aircraft programs simultaneously rather than a single project.

Analysts caution that appearing in satellite photos does not mean the WZ-X is an operational weapon. Its exact role, whether reconnaissance, communications relay or long-range strike, along with its manufacturer and formal designation, remains unconfirmed.

Source: Defence Blog