China’s top aircraft research center on Monday announced the successful test flight of the country’s newest stealth drone, a long-endurance unmanned aircraft that can fly under the radar.
According to a WeChat account affiliated with China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the main contractor and research center for the Chinese program, the stealth drone, dubbed “Tianying,” successfully conducted three test flights, four years after the drone program was first initiated.
“Eighty percent of our drone’s technologies are the newest and most advanced, some of which are leading the global [drone] industry,” Ma Hongzhong, chief designer of the Tianying stealth drone, was quoted as saying by the WeChat account.
Ma noted that the all advanced technologies used on the drone have gone through countless ground tests, while all design parameters have been thoroughly calculated and double-checked.
The WeChat account did not reveal further details of the new drone, nor post any pictures of it as of press time.
China successfully flew its first stealth drone in 2013. The maiden flight of “Sharp Sword” made China the fourth global power to put a stealth drone into the sky after the U.S., UK, EU.
