The fresh large Jiu Tian drone in Beijing will shortly launch. As a parent ship for drone swarms, with a flight ceiling of 15,000 metres, it sets standards in strategical warfare.
China adds a new, large drone to its awesome arsenal. Jiu Tian SS-UAV is scheduled to take its first flight in June 2025. The combat drone was already presented at the Zhuhai Air Fair in November 2024. At the time it was unclear whether it was a realistically designed marketplace model – a mock-up. The June launch of Jiu Tian means that it is ready to fly pre-production model. Jiu Tian presented at the fair was named SS-UAV. UAV stands for ‘Unmanned Aerial Object’, the meaning of SS remains unknown.
It combines American drone capabilities
Jiu Tian is somewhat larger than the American RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper models. The runway is about 16 tons, the maximum scope is 7,000 kilometres, and the flight altitude is 15000 metres. A drone powered by a jet engine can carry up to six tons of ammunition and tiny drones. All data are estimated.
But not only the size makes this drone special. Jiu Tian was not only equipped with conventional pylons to mount the weapon under wings, but was besides designed as a drone parent ship. The hull contains a ‘honey-type mission space’, a kind of box containing a swarm of up to 100 tiny drones. It is so a "flying aircraft carrier" for drones, akin to parent ships in discipline fiction films that launch smaller fighters.
Using many tiny drones
Thanks to a ship-base, specified as Jiu Tian, the drone war, specified as the 1 presently in advancement in Ukraine, could be conducted virtually everywhere, not only on the front line. The parent ship serves as a communication center and importantly increases the scope of tiny drones. Jiu Tian means ‘large height’, referring to the operational scenario. The large drone reaches advanced altitudes, meaning it can only be attacked by large air defence systems and operates out of scope of MANPADS or anti-aircraft tanks. A sensor tower was mounted under the nose, most likely containing cameras. There's a radar dome on the front of the hull.
Like RQ-4 Global Hawk, Jiu Tian was designed for high-altitude and long-lasting missions. A large wingspan of 25 metres means a large scope and long flight time, allowing constant monitoring of vast areas. The rear-mounted engine reduces heat radiation, making it hard to detect the vehicle at advanced altitudes. Like MQ-9 Reaper, it has 8 weapons stations under its wing where conventional missiles can be used. The anticipation of sending a swarm of drones into combat is something special.
Drones with swarm intelligence
However, this concept will prove to be truly useful only erstwhile drones get real ability to work in a swarm and will act completely or mostly autonomously without the request for the operator of each drone. Thanks to the intelligence of the swarm, it is possible to deploy drones in large numbers in a given area, making effective defence virtually impossible for opponents who do not have the right capabilities. specified parent ships could play a key function in the future war. They can be deployed in areas where China has gained an advantage in the air or – as in Ukraine – where neither side can deploy its own fighters. There, drones could exert constant force on the enemy, inflicting dense losses on him and hindering the movement of land troops.
Since around 2010, Beijing has been working on high-performance drones to compete with the United States. The Caihong and Wing Loong series models were exported and tested in combat missions. Initially, their skills were judged skeptically, but that changed. The United States has always thoroughly checked what drones are exporting and for what purpose. Countries that do not scope transportation from Washington are dependent on another suppliers. Beijing will most likely offer more power to drones for little money. Exports of high-quality military equipment lead to long-term military cooperation, which is simply a political gain for China.
Country number 1 for drones.
China has a leading position in drones. No another country has comparable production capacity. Beijing controls the full production chain – from natural materials and their processing to intermediate products and ready-made drones. No another country reaches the level of production at Chinese level. Although the United States produces advanced quality drones specified as MQ-9 Reaper, in the case of semiconductors and natural materials, this country is dependent on global supply chains. Turkey is making progress, but inactive dependent on imports. another drone producing countries besides produce airframes, wings and main components specified as engines, but mostly depend on global suppliers of semiconductors, photocells and minimotors.
