China flies Jiutian world’s largest unmanned aircraft designed to deploy 100 drones.

China completed the first flight of Jiutian, the world’s largest unmanned aircraft, designed as a high-altitude mothership capable of deploying large drone swarms. The system presents a growing challenge for U.S. forces and allied militaries across the Indo-Pacific by complicating air defense, naval operations, and regional deterrence.

China has taken a significant step forward in unmanned warfare with the debut flight of Jiutian, the world’s largest unmanned aircraft developed by state-owned Xi’an Chida Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to Chinese media reports. Conducted this week in Shaanxi province, the flight showcased a platform intended to release and coordinate dozens of smaller drones, a capability that could strain U.S. and allied air defenses operating across the Indo-Pacific theater.
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China's Jiutian unmanned aircraft, the world’s largest combat drone, functions as a high-altitude drone carrier capable of deploying over 100 autonomous microdrones in coordinated swarm missions. Designed for saturation attacks, Jiutian launches AI-powered drones that overwhelm enemy air defenses through simultaneous, multi-vector strikes, marking a strategic shift in modern air combat. (Picture source: RupprechtDeino X account)

While Chinese state media confirmed the flight, official details remain limited. However, based on open-source intelligence and public displays at the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow, Jiutian is believed to have a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 20 tons and a payload capacity of 6,000 kilograms. It features eight external hardpoints for a variety of munitions, including air-to-air and anti-ship missiles and precision-guided bombs. What sets Jiutian apart is its internal drone bay, designed to house and deploy over 100 small drones, including loitering munitions and kamikaze UAVs capable of engaging ground and naval targets autonomously.

The aircraft reportedly has two high-bypass turbofan engines and an estimated wingspan exceeding 35 meters, placing it in the size class of a narrow-body commercial airliner. Its large physical footprint may reduce its stealth capabilities, but the platform is not built for front-line penetration. Rather, it functions as a standoff drone launchpad, remaining outside contested zones while releasing swarms of smaller autonomous drones to execute precision strikes and conduct electronic warfare at a distance.

At the heart of Jiutian’s disruptive potential lies its swarm deployment capability. A swarm mission involves dozens or hundreds of drones acting in coordination, sharing data, adjusting in real time, and operating autonomously to overwhelm and neutralize enemy defenses. Unlike traditional UAVs that are remotely piloted and operate individually, swarm drones use distributed AI to collectively respond to threats, select targets, and adjust flight paths without direct human input. This collective behavior makes them harder to intercept, more adaptive to changing battlefield conditions, and capable of executing complex missions such as SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses), communications jamming, and saturation strikes.

In practical terms, Jiutian can unleash a drone swarm to saturate radar systems, blind missile defense batteries, or strike command centers with minimal risk to human operators. When fielded at scale, platforms like Jiutian could shift the balance of power in contested zones by replacing traditional manned strike packages with autonomous swarms capable of executing missions with ruthless efficiency.

For the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, this development introduces a direct and multifaceted strategic threat. In a Taiwan conflict scenario, Jiutian could be used to deploy massive swarms of loitering munitions against airbases, missile sites, and naval ports across the island. These attacks would be designed to overwhelm Taiwan’s layered air defense systems in a first-wave strike, enabling follow-on manned and unmanned platforms to penetrate deeper with less resistance.

Forward-deployed U.S. assets in Guam, Okinawa, and the Philippines would also be within operational range of Jiutian’s drone-launched munitions. These bases, critical to any rapid military response in the region, could be targeted by coordinated drone waves designed to blind early warning systems, disable communications infrastructure, and destroy key logistics nodes. Even with robust missile defense systems such as Aegis and THAAD, traditional defenses may struggle against low-cost, high-volume drone swarms launched from a platform operating outside standard threat envelopes.

Beyond Taiwan, the Jiutian platform could have major implications in the South China Sea. Launched from Chinese territory or forward airfields, Jiutian could be used to assert air superiority over disputed maritime zones by coordinating drone operations against surveillance aircraft, patrol vessels, and even U.S. Navy carrier strike groups. The swarming tactic complicates current naval air defense doctrine, which is optimized for defending against small numbers of high-value targets, not hundreds of inexpensive, semi-autonomous drones arriving simultaneously from multiple vectors.

China’s investment in platforms like Jiutian is also backed by a robust dual-use industrial ecosystem. Commercial drone giants such as DJI and Easy Fly Intelligent Technology have provided the technological foundation for military-grade autonomous systems. With government support and access to advanced AI and microelectronics, China has built an industrial base capable of rapidly iterating and deploying drone warfare platforms that merge civilian innovation with military ambition.

At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army faces internal turbulence. Recent military purges targeting top leadership in the PLA Rocket Force and other strategic commands underscore deep-seated corruption within China’s military-industrial system. U.S. intelligence assessments suggest this corruption has undermined the reliability and performance of some weapons systems, particularly within China’s strategic missile forces. However, unmanned systems like Jiutian appear to be advancing on a separate trajectory, driven by a less centralized, faster-moving innovation model that is less dependent on purging legacy hierarchies.

Jiutian is still in its early testing phase and must undergo extensive evaluation before being integrated into operational service. Yet, if its capabilities perform as expected, it could become the centerpiece of China’s next-generation aerial combat doctrine. In contrast to the U.S. approach, which emphasizes high-value manned systems like sixth-generation fighters and collaborative combat aircraft, Jiutian signals a shift toward attritable warfare. This is warfare achieved through massed, expendable, and networked platforms rather than survivability or stealth alone.

For the United States and its allies, the message is clear. The future battlespace will not be defined solely by stealth, speed, or kinetic range. It will be shaped by the ability to generate, coordinate, and counter autonomous systems operating at scale. As China pushes the boundaries of what drone warfare can achieve, the challenge for democratic nations is to accelerate innovation, develop effective counter-swarm technologies, and rethink the fundamental architecture of defense.

The new Chinese Jiutian unmanned aircraft is not just a drone. It is a strategic warning. The era of swarm warfare has begun, and China intends to lead it.

Written by Alain Servaes – Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group
Alain Servaes is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense industry.