China’s CH-7 Stealth Drone Takes Flight Signaling a New Challenge to U.S. Forces
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China’s CH-7 stealth unmanned aircraft has been photographed in flight for the first time, confirming its shift into an active test program. The development signals a significant leap in China’s pursuit of high-altitude stealthy strike and ISR drones that could challenge U.S. and allied operations in the Indo-Pacific.
According to information gathered on social media, on November 12, 2025, China’s large CH-7 unmanned aircraft was photographed in flight for the first time, confirming that the stealth-focused flying wing has moved from runway trials into an active flight test phase after years of model displays at Zhuhai Airshow and tightly controlled imagery releases. The underside photo, reportedly taken on November 11, clearly shows the aircraft cruising with two canted vertical fins added to what had been showcased as a pure tailless design, underlining that Chinese engineers are still refining the balance between stability, control authority, and radar signature.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
China’s CH-7 stealth UCAV features a flying-wing design, high-altitude endurance, and an internal weapons bay, enabling deep-penetration ISR and standoff strike missions in heavily defended airspace (Picture source: social media).
The CH-7 sits at the top end of the CASC Rainbow family. Early figures tied to its 2018 mock-up described a flying wing around 10 meters long with a 22-meter span, powered by a single turbofan capable of pushing the aircraft to roughly 920 kilometers per hour at up to 13,000 meters, with about 15 hours endurance and a 2,000-kilometer radius. By Airshow China 2022 and later Chinese reporting, the design had grown, with a wingspan estimated at around 26 meters, service ceiling increased to about 15 kilometers and a maximum takeoff weight in the 10-ton class, positioning CH-7 much closer to a stealthy HALE strike and ISR platform than to the smaller CH-4 and CH-5 export drones already in service abroad.
The aircraft follows the same broad design language as U.S. and European flying wing UCAVs such as the X-47B, the RQ-180 and the nEUROn, with a blended wing body planform, a dorsal intake that hides the engine face from ground-based radar and a flattened exhaust to reduce infrared plume visibility. All available imagery and models show no external hardpoints, strongly implying an internal weapons bay sized for anti-radiation missiles and stand-off precision strike munitions. Chinese aerospace commentary long associated with the Rainbow program suggests the CH-7 is designed to intercept radar emissions, detect and identify high-value targets such as command posts, missile batteries and naval vessels, and then either attack or cue other strike assets while maintaining low observability.
The primer yellow airframe shows a prominent nose-mounted pitot boom, fixed tricycle landing gear and several dorsal fairings likely covering test instrumentation and satellite communications equipment. The temporary canted fins visible in the photograph echo test configurations seen on early flying wing programs in the United States, where additional vertical surfaces are often used in initial phases to simplify yaw control before more advanced flight control laws are validated. Observers will be watching closely to see whether later CH-7 airframes revert to the clean tailless configuration shown in earlier CASC display models, which would further optimize stealth performance.
Open sources now allow a clear timeline of the project: the CH-7 mock-up first appeared at Zhuhai in 2018, with CASC suggesting a maiden flight around 2019 and early production targets for the mid-2020s. The program then went quiet before resurfacing in 2022 with a refined model featuring sharper wingtips, modified control surfaces, and a lengthened engine fairing. In late 2024, unofficial video and satellite imagery showed a full-scale CH-7 in yellow primer conducting taxi runs at a remote test facility. The November 2025 airborne photograph, therefore, indicates that the program has entered a structured flight test phase.
Within the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and Navy, CH-7 appears intended to operate above the existing BZK-005 surveillance fleet and alongside the smaller GJ-11 “Sharp Sword” attack UCAV, which has been spotted working with J-20 fighters, as well as newer collaborative combat aircraft in development. While the GJ-11 is optimized for tactical strike, the CH-7’s larger wing and extended endurance suggest a role as a high altitude stealthy sensor shooter capable of lingering on the fringes of U.S. and allied air defense networks, mapping radar emitters and feeding targeting data into PLA kill chains.
This capability connects directly to China’s doctrinal focus on “informationized” and increasingly “intelligentized” warfare, where multi-domain networks of sensors and precision weapons work together across services. Recent U.S. defense assessments highlight the rapid expansion of Chinese unmanned systems as central to long-range strike and anti-access strategies in the Western Pacific. A stealthy HALE UCAV such as the CH-7 is almost tailored for this mission set, able in theory to support anti-ship missile operations against U.S. carrier groups, provide wide area early warning over the Philippine Sea and maintain persistent tracking of high-value assets inside defended airspace without exposing crewed aircraft to elevated risk.
The United States has demonstrated advanced UCAV designs like the X-47B but has yet to field a large stealthy HALE strike drone at scale, relying instead on next-generation collaborative combat aircraft still in development. European efforts remain at the demonstrator stage. China’s decision to push the CH-7 through full flight testing suggests a determination to operationalize such systems and potentially export simplified versions, continuing its pattern of selling CH family UAVs across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
If fielded, the CH-7 could be integrated with long-range missile brigades, naval formations and land-based strike units oriented toward Taiwan, Japan and the broader Indo-Pacific theater. The indicators to watch in the coming months include serial markings on future prototypes, deployment to coastal or plateau bases used for ISR assets, and any appearance of the aircraft in joint exercises with GJ-11, J-20 fighters, or future sixth-generation programs. In an environment where Chinese missile inventories already pressure forward-deployed U.S. forces, a survivable long-endurance strike and reconnaissance drone like the CH-7 could reshape the opening geometry of any major air campaign in the region.
{loadposition bannertop}
{loadposition sidebarpub}
China’s CH-7 stealth unmanned aircraft has been photographed in flight for the first time, confirming its shift into an active test program. The development signals a significant leap in China’s pursuit of high-altitude stealthy strike and ISR drones that could challenge U.S. and allied operations in the Indo-Pacific.
According to information gathered on social media, on November 12, 2025, China’s large CH-7 unmanned aircraft was photographed in flight for the first time, confirming that the stealth-focused flying wing has moved from runway trials into an active flight test phase after years of model displays at Zhuhai Airshow and tightly controlled imagery releases. The underside photo, reportedly taken on November 11, clearly shows the aircraft cruising with two canted vertical fins added to what had been showcased as a pure tailless design, underlining that Chinese engineers are still refining the balance between stability, control authority, and radar signature.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
China’s CH-7 stealth UCAV features a flying-wing design, high-altitude endurance, and an internal weapons bay, enabling deep-penetration ISR and standoff strike missions in heavily defended airspace (Picture source: social media).
The CH-7 sits at the top end of the CASC Rainbow family. Early figures tied to its 2018 mock-up described a flying wing around 10 meters long with a 22-meter span, powered by a single turbofan capable of pushing the aircraft to roughly 920 kilometers per hour at up to 13,000 meters, with about 15 hours endurance and a 2,000-kilometer radius. By Airshow China 2022 and later Chinese reporting, the design had grown, with a wingspan estimated at around 26 meters, service ceiling increased to about 15 kilometers and a maximum takeoff weight in the 10-ton class, positioning CH-7 much closer to a stealthy HALE strike and ISR platform than to the smaller CH-4 and CH-5 export drones already in service abroad.
The aircraft follows the same broad design language as U.S. and European flying wing UCAVs such as the X-47B, the RQ-180 and the nEUROn, with a blended wing body planform, a dorsal intake that hides the engine face from ground-based radar and a flattened exhaust to reduce infrared plume visibility. All available imagery and models show no external hardpoints, strongly implying an internal weapons bay sized for anti-radiation missiles and stand-off precision strike munitions. Chinese aerospace commentary long associated with the Rainbow program suggests the CH-7 is designed to intercept radar emissions, detect and identify high-value targets such as command posts, missile batteries and naval vessels, and then either attack or cue other strike assets while maintaining low observability.
The primer yellow airframe shows a prominent nose-mounted pitot boom, fixed tricycle landing gear and several dorsal fairings likely covering test instrumentation and satellite communications equipment. The temporary canted fins visible in the photograph echo test configurations seen on early flying wing programs in the United States, where additional vertical surfaces are often used in initial phases to simplify yaw control before more advanced flight control laws are validated. Observers will be watching closely to see whether later CH-7 airframes revert to the clean tailless configuration shown in earlier CASC display models, which would further optimize stealth performance.
Open sources now allow a clear timeline of the project: the CH-7 mock-up first appeared at Zhuhai in 2018, with CASC suggesting a maiden flight around 2019 and early production targets for the mid-2020s. The program then went quiet before resurfacing in 2022 with a refined model featuring sharper wingtips, modified control surfaces, and a lengthened engine fairing. In late 2024, unofficial video and satellite imagery showed a full-scale CH-7 in yellow primer conducting taxi runs at a remote test facility. The November 2025 airborne photograph, therefore, indicates that the program has entered a structured flight test phase.
Within the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and Navy, CH-7 appears intended to operate above the existing BZK-005 surveillance fleet and alongside the smaller GJ-11 “Sharp Sword” attack UCAV, which has been spotted working with J-20 fighters, as well as newer collaborative combat aircraft in development. While the GJ-11 is optimized for tactical strike, the CH-7’s larger wing and extended endurance suggest a role as a high altitude stealthy sensor shooter capable of lingering on the fringes of U.S. and allied air defense networks, mapping radar emitters and feeding targeting data into PLA kill chains.
This capability connects directly to China’s doctrinal focus on “informationized” and increasingly “intelligentized” warfare, where multi-domain networks of sensors and precision weapons work together across services. Recent U.S. defense assessments highlight the rapid expansion of Chinese unmanned systems as central to long-range strike and anti-access strategies in the Western Pacific. A stealthy HALE UCAV such as the CH-7 is almost tailored for this mission set, able in theory to support anti-ship missile operations against U.S. carrier groups, provide wide area early warning over the Philippine Sea and maintain persistent tracking of high-value assets inside defended airspace without exposing crewed aircraft to elevated risk.
The United States has demonstrated advanced UCAV designs like the X-47B but has yet to field a large stealthy HALE strike drone at scale, relying instead on next-generation collaborative combat aircraft still in development. European efforts remain at the demonstrator stage. China’s decision to push the CH-7 through full flight testing suggests a determination to operationalize such systems and potentially export simplified versions, continuing its pattern of selling CH family UAVs across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
If fielded, the CH-7 could be integrated with long-range missile brigades, naval formations and land-based strike units oriented toward Taiwan, Japan and the broader Indo-Pacific theater. The indicators to watch in the coming months include serial markings on future prototypes, deployment to coastal or plateau bases used for ISR assets, and any appearance of the aircraft in joint exercises with GJ-11, J-20 fighters, or future sixth-generation programs. In an environment where Chinese missile inventories already pressure forward-deployed U.S. forces, a survivable long-endurance strike and reconnaissance drone like the CH-7 could reshape the opening geometry of any major air campaign in the region.
