stealth
Stealth may refer to:
Military
*Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles
**Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology
** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology
** Ste ...
supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
unmanned combat aerial vehicle
An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircra ...
from the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. It is being developed by the
Aviation Industry Corporation of China
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is a Chinese state-owned publicly-traded aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Beijing. AVIC is overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the ...
China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition
China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition (), also known as the Airshow China () and Zhuhai Airshow (), is a biennial international aerospace trade expo held in Zhuhai, Guangdong, since 1996. It is the largest airshow in China.
Hi ...
Early concepts featured a conical planform, static foreplane canards, a wide tail section with canted vertical stabilizers, swept wings, and a single-engine with forward-swept chin-mounted intake. A sub-scale demonstrator may have flown by mid-2018.
An image of a full-scale mock-up or demonstrator emerged in mid-2018. It was at least 12 meters long and shared low-observability features with contemporary Chinese aircraft including a
diverterless supersonic inlet
A diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) is a type of jet engine air intake used by some modern combat aircraft to control air flow into their engines. It consists of a "bump" and a forward-swept inlet cowl, which work together to divert boundary l ...
.
The drone could potentially be paired with
Chengdu J-20
The Chengdu J-20 (), also known as Mighty Dragon (, NATO reporting name: Fagin), is a twinjet, twin-engine Night fighter, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth fighter developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People's Liberatio ...
stealth fighter, specifically the twin-seat J-20S for aircraft teaming. Various "loyal wingman" prototypes, including the Dark Sword, were developed in China.