Examining the formidable capabilities of China's unmanned attack aircraft

This aircraft is temporarily called GJ-X (Gongji-X or Cong Kich-X) by foreign media - a line of large stealth combat drones.

The video is said to have been filmed on October 19 and has spread quickly online. The War Zone website was the first to post it, with the headline: “China’s giant stealth drone GJ-X makes its first appearance in the air.”

The problem is, the GJ-X is no small experimental model. Its design is supposed to be a “direct rival” to the US B-21 Raider stealth bomber – and it’s even larger.

The GJ-X uses a “kite” style monocoque wing layout, with thick wing roots and slightly swept wing tips, making the entire structure look like a stretched bow. The entire body is designed to optimize stealth capabilities.

The belly uses a back-reflective paint, when flying at high altitudes it almost blends in with the clouds when viewed from below, significantly reducing radar signals. The two engines are hidden in the body, the exhaust is designed to be angled upwards to reduce heat signature.

Estimated take-off weight of GJ-X: ~50 tons; weapons load: ~15 tons; flight range: over 10,000 km. With these parameters, it is clearly not a conventional reconnaissance aircraft, but a piece of equipment with a strategic role.

In the viral video, the plane flies steadily, circling for about 40 minutes and landing gently.

The Asia Times on October 24 assessed that the GJ-X “raises the strategic risk in the Pacific ”. Compared to the Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword (GJ-11 “Sharpened Sword”) which only has a 14 m wingspan and is at the tactical level, the GJ-X seems to have moved up to the strategic level.

While the US had to spend tens of billions of dollars to develop the B-21 Raider and only had a test flight in 2023, China launched an unmanned version that is lower risk and easier to mass produce - causing the US-China strategic balance problem to change significantly.

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The War Zone even emphasized: the layout of the GJ-X originated from an old concept design by Northrop Grumman (USA), but China has turned the drawings into actual products at a development speed that "makes it difficult for people to keep up".

The Economic Times wrote on October 20: The first flight of the GJ-X confirms its multi-role capabilities: it can conduct high-altitude reconnaissance or precision strike. When combined with hypersonic weapons or air-launched cruise missiles, it becomes a “nightmare” for US bases and the navy on the front line.

Without a pilot, the GJ-X can fly for dozens of hours continuously, conducting long-term patrols, an advantage that manned aircraft cannot keep up with.

Over the past two years, China has continuously launched new stealth aircraft models such as H-20, J-36, J50, J-XDS... GJ-X is the next step, showing that their domestic research and production chain has achieved a high level of continuity.

Chinese media said that the GJ-X is not an unmanned version of the H-20 manned strategic bomber, developed by Xi'an Aviation Corporation, with a payload of more than 20 tons and a flight range of over 10,000 km. It was confirmed that research and development began in 2016 but has not yet announced a test flight.