China’s GJ-11 stealth armed reconnaissance drone will open its weapons bays for the first time and display its capability to carry a large amounts of precision weapons at the Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai, South China’s Guangdong Province.
Experts said that the drone will likely carry multiple types of precision ammunitions, including larger ones that were not on display at the air show.
In the exhibition hall of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), scale models of the “20” aircraft family, including the J-20 stealth fighter jet, the Y-20 large transport aircraft and the Z-20 utility helicopter, will be displayed on a giant rotary table in the center, together with the model of a GJ-11 stealth armed reconnaissance drone.
During a preview visit to the exhibition shortly prior to its opening on Tuesday, the Global Times saw the model of the GJ-11 with its weapons bays open.
According to the official model displayed by AVIC, the aircraft’s maker, the GJ-11 has two weapons bays, symmetrically positioned between the drone’s three landing gears. Each bay has four ammunitions which look like guided precision air-to-ground glide bombs.
This is the first time details on the GJ-11’s weapons bays and its payload capability have been revealed to the general public since the first public appearance of the drone at the National Day military parade on October 1, 2019 in Beijing, observers said.
In the works since 2013, this UAV is powered by a single turbofan engine and boasts a massive wingspan of 46 feet (14 m). While details of the drone are largely unknown, it is believed that the drone has a range of 2,485 miles (4,000 km) and a top speed of 621 mph (1,000 kph), and above all, stealth capabilities.
The GJ-11 also belongs to the “20” aircraft family and it is one of the most advanced stealth attack drones, Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese military expert, told the Global.
The aircraft uses a flying wing design with high stealth capability and has high subsonic cruise efficiency. Despite a small body, it has a long range, Zhang said.
In a mission, the GJ-11 can likely carry multiple types of precision ammunitions, including larger ones that will not be on display at the air show, Zhang predicted.
With the flying wing design similar to the US’ B-2 strategic bomber, the drone has strong stealth capabilities, enabling it to sneak deep into enemy territory and launch strikes with weapons hidden in its weapons bays over key hostile targets, military analysts said when it was first revealed.
Also on display at the Airshow were promotional videos of the GJ-11’s capabilities from its maker, the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group.
As shown in this clip, the GJ-11 drones are capable of taking flight from amphibious assault ships, and when closer to the target could also deploy decoys instead of firing ammunition. Although the drone is big, it could possibly not carry enough firepower to take down an enemy ship and therefore, could be tasked to constrain the resources of the ship.
As the video further shows, these drones are beaming some airwaves to their targets, which could either be signal jammers or directed energy weapons.
Sources: The Global Times; Interesting Engineering