China’s CH-7 Stealth Drone Can Be Summed Up in 4 Words

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One Great Miliary Mystery: China’s CH-7 stealth Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) has been unveiled with ambitious claims of advanced capabilities.

-Featuring a smooth flying-wing design, the CH-7 is built for reconnaissance, deep strikes, and possibly serving as a “Loyal Wingman” alongside manned stealth aircraft like the J-20 or H-20.

-With a wingspan of 85 feet and a top speed of 575 mph, it promises high-altitude missions and potential stealth attributes.

-However, questions linger about its true capabilities and timeline for mass production.

-While impressive on paper, its long-term viability hinges on overcoming technological hurdles and moving beyond the prototype stage.

Is China’s CH-7 Stealth Combat Drone Real or Vapor Ware?

In my early career as a U.S. Army officer, I was obsessed with what was then called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like the early Predator. I wrote my master’s thesis about the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance video collected by UAVs and how this would change the military. My research was in 2001 after 9/11. Little did I know that UAVs would be armed someday, and I never imagined that UAVs would become stealth aircraft.

But that is just what the Chinese have cooked up – a new stealth drone. Now, they are called Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), and they can execute intelligence-gathering missions and deliver death from the air.

CH-7 Has a Familiar Design 

China now has a mockup or prototype of what they believe is a stealthy UCAV. It’s called the CH-7. This has a smooth flying-wing design that you would expect from a radar-evading bird. 

This thing is big and has a broad contour. The CH-7 is an experimental aircraft, so the Chinese designers and engineers have coated it with the customary yellow or gold primer to distinguish it from other airplanes that are in active service.

This Thing Is Big

Images and videos have been released showing the CH-7 taxiing on a runway. Looking at the CH-7 from above shows that it is as wide as the runway, giving you an idea of how significant this UCAV is.

Should We Call It “Rainbow-7?” 

The “CH” in the craft’s name or nomenclature stands for Caihong or “Rainbow,” and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is developing it. 

The CH-7 will likely be a high-flying UCAV that could perform a variety of missions with its stealth attributes. 

It could fly as a recon bird or serve in a deep strike role. The UCAV is expected to have a high altitude and sufficient cruising speed to fly into enemy airspace with ease. 

It will have the ability to refuel in the sky.

It Would Be a Cool, Loyal Wingman

The CH-7 could also serve as a “Loyal Wingman” to be tethered to another manned stealth fighter or bomber such as the J-20 or H-20. 

This would give the Chinese a force multiplier. It would then have electronic warfare capabilities to jam enemy air defenses, launch missiles, and drop precision-guided munitions.

 It is unclear if the CH-7 could be nuclear-equipped, but that would be a plus for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

The PLAAF has been working on the CH-7 since at least 2018. That year, a mockup of the UCAV was displayed at the Zhuhai Airshow. It was shown again at Zhuhai in 2022 when the crowd was able to see the 85-foot-wide wingspan. 

The specs were released to show how the CH-7 had advanced in the four years that elapsed from the first showing. The UCAV is 33 feet long with a takeoff weight of 22,000 pounds and a top speed of 575 miles per hour. The endurance is only 15 hours, though.

More on Design Aspects 

“Notable features when looking at the rear aspect of the drone in its latest version include prominent gaps inboard of the trailing-edge flaps, where the wing meets the blended body section. It is likely a temporary configuration and a gap-filler would fill this section. A slot-like low-observable platypus engine exhaust, with the nozzle fully concealed from most angles of view is also visible. Engine exhausts are among the most notoriously complicated elements of developing any stealth aircraft, crewed or uncrewed,” according to The War Zone.

It is too early to call the CH-7 fully stealthy. It does have stealth attributes due to its flying wing design and smooth shape, leading observers to believe it will have radar-evading stealth coatings too.

Let’s not get carried away with the CH-7. The Chinese often steal designs, and the prototypes sometimes do not meet expectations. Stealth attributes are challenging to meld onto any aircraft. It is not clear when the CH-7 will fly and enter serial production. It may just be a prototype to impress the media and frighten the United States and its allies in East Asia.

However, if it enters a manufacturing phase, the UCAV’s purported ability to fly high and conduct deep strike missions is noteworthy, especially if it can evade radar. We will keep an eye on its development if it does make it past the Valley of Death acquisition hurdle from air show mockups to prototypes, to test flights, and then mass production without being canceled.

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood 

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.