New image of China’s first weaponized stealth drone emerges (as US launched its own one from an aircraft carrier)

Few hours before the U.S. Navy launched the the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator off the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time, a new clear side image of Lijian (“sharp sword”), China’s first weaponized stealth drone has emerged from the Chinese Internet.

A coincidence?

Lijian clear

Image credit: Chinese Internet via Alert5

The drone is quite interesting, as it features the characteristic dark paint (most probably RAM – Radar Absorbing Material), a large frontal air intake, a “normal” landing gear (as opposed to the reinforced one of the X-47B, needed to absorb the shock of the heavy landing on a flattop) and sports the code “001” that denotes the first aircraft of such type.

Noteworthy is also a sort of false canopy (like the one some combat planes have got on the underside, directly underneath the front of the plane to confuse an enemy so he does not know in what direction the aircraft is headed/turning), seemingly painted on the UCAV to give planes flying in the vicinity of the drone, the idea a pilot could be sitted inside it.

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About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.