Why the PLA’s WZ-9 drone is a ‘serious challenge’ to US aircraft in the South China Sea

China’s deployment of its most advanced long-range surveillance drone to the South China Sea is a major challenge to US stealth aircraft and air superiority in the region, according to a Chinese military commentator.

US defence news website The War Zone reported last week that satellite images confirmed that high-altitude, long-endurance WZ-9 drones had been operating from a key military base on the southern island of Hainan since December.

The aircraft were spotted at Ledong airbase, also known as Foluo Northeast Air Base, near other strategic sites, including Yulin Naval Base, which houses nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, the report said.

The jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operates at altitudes of up to 25,000 metres (82,000 feet), can fly for up to 35 hours and its radars can see up to 500km (310 miles) away, enabling constant surveillance across vast maritime regions, according to the report.

Former People’s Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping said the drone’s array of radars seriously challenged the US military’s reliance on stealth technology for air superiority and weakened US combat strength in the Indo-Pacific.

  

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