Guizhou WZ-7 "Soaring Dragon" High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned drone (via Twitter)
In late March, the Southern Theater Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released new photographs of the naval variant of its WZ-7 Soaring Dragon drone, which military observers and experts instantly noted some similarities with the US Navy’s MQ-4C Triton.
Like the American Triton, this Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is capable of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) operations, developed to supplement PLA Navy’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
China’s Soaring Dragon
Built by the Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation, the earliest WZ-7 model debuted at the 2006 Zhuhai Airshow. However, its maiden flight only occurred in the 2010s, with the drone’s radar cross-section trial taking place in September 2011. Nicknamed the “Soaring Dragon,” the drone entered production between 2015 and 2016 before news of its redesign made headlines in 2020.
The PLA officially unveiled the WZ-7 unmanned drone at the Zhuhai Airshow 2021 and flaunted it again in 2022. Meanwhile, the development of the naval variant of the UAV emerged weeks after the Chinese reconnaissance drone was spotted passing through the Miyako Strait earlier this year.
The strait is the waterway gap between the islands of Miyako and Okinawa, which holds geopolitical significance to the surrounding countries as it connects the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With this, PLA often conducts military exercises and other operations around the region, with which Japan has issues as Beijing frequently overlaps Tokyo’s claimed territory.
In several instances, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force had to deploy fighter jets over the strait to intercept the surveilling Chinese drones. But in recent years, particularly in 2022, PLA appeared to have stepped up its military activities near the Miyako Strait, a concern Japan has closely monitored since.
#Japan's Ministry of defense reports the first time intercept of a #Chinese high altitude WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance drone over the East China Sea
In late March, the Southern Theater Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released new photographs of the naval variant of its WZ-7 Soaring Dragon drone, which military observers and experts instantly noted some similarities with the US Navy’s MQ-4C Triton.
Like the American Triton, this Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is capable of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) operations, developed to supplement PLA Navy’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
China’s Soaring Dragon
Built by the Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation, the earliest WZ-7 model debuted at the 2006 Zhuhai Airshow. However, its maiden flight only occurred in the 2010s, with the drone’s radar cross-section trial taking place in September 2011. Nicknamed the “Soaring Dragon,” the drone entered production between 2015 and 2016 before news of its redesign made headlines in 2020.
The PLA officially unveiled the WZ-7 unmanned drone at the Zhuhai Airshow 2021 and flaunted it again in 2022. Meanwhile, the development of the naval variant of the UAV emerged weeks after the Chinese reconnaissance drone was spotted passing through the Miyako Strait earlier this year.
The strait is the waterway gap between the islands of Miyako and Okinawa, which holds geopolitical significance to the surrounding countries as it connects the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With this, PLA often conducts military exercises and other operations around the region, with which Japan has issues as Beijing frequently overlaps Tokyo’s claimed territory.
In several instances, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force had to deploy fighter jets over the strait to intercept the surveilling Chinese drones. But in recent years, particularly in 2022, PLA appeared to have stepped up its military activities near the Miyako Strait, a concern Japan has closely monitored since.
#Japan's Ministry of defense reports the first time intercept of a #Chinese high altitude WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance drone over the East China Sea
According to reports, the naval variant of the Soaring Dragon measures about 14.3 meters (46.91 feet) long, 25 m (82.02 ft) in wingspan, and 5.4 m (17.72 ft) in height, capable of conducting maritime ISR missions, particularly scanning the western Pacific, as well as monitor Taiwanese and Japanese naval assets in their respective regions. It is a HALE drone that can cruise at about 60,000 ft (11.36 miles) and has a maximum cruising speed of about 750 kilometers per hour (405 Knots) at a range of 7,000 km (3,800 nautical miles). Moreover, the drone can carry up to 650 kilograms (1,433 pounds) of mission payload, bolstering lethality to China’s surveillance capabilities.
The naval variant of the UAV platform features Wave Transmitting Material (WTM) on the forward fuselage for beyond-line-of-sight communication on long-range missions, according to a Naval News report.
The placement of the WTM on the upper part of the drone allows the antenna to better uplink and downlink satellites. Moreover, fitted on its wings are electronic measures antennas capable of intercepting enemy ships’ communication and radar signatures and executing direction-finding functions.
American Triton’s Chinese Counterpart
Some have identified the WZ-7 as PLA’s answer to the famed ISR drone of the US Navy, the MQ-4C Triton, which explains why it has nearly identical capabilities.
Recent photos showed that Beijing’s new naval HALE UAV resembles the US Triton recon drone, particularly the platform’s nose and upper part of the fuselage.
The WZ-7, a long-range semi-stealth drone developed by the 611 Institute and GAIC. The WZ-7 boasts a box/diamond wing design to improve lift and reduce drag and weight, with a reported weight of 7,500kg, a range of 4,500km, a cruising speed of 750km/hr, and a cruising altitude 🧵 pic.twitter.com/U79m2TNfrs
Its radars, however, differ, with the Triton having a 360-degree radar that provides “an unobstructed look-down line-of-sight toward the ground,” Naval News reported, while the Soaring Dragon version only has a front-facing radar.
With this, the circulating Chinese WZ-7 is suspected of filling in the role of a Stand-off Jammer, tasked to degrade surface combatants’ communication or radar performance to disrupt and provide cover for its strike network.
In addition, the unmanned recon drone is also expected to provide an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capability against US Carrier Strike Groups (often dubbed “Carrier Killer” by Chinese media), which China has been working on for years.
“For years, China has been trying to establish its Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capability to counter the US Carrier Strike Groups by introducing various Anti-Ship capabilities, including the DF-21D Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile, which Chinese media often referred to as the “Carrier Killer.” via Naval News.
Recently, a Beijing-based think tank reported on March 27 the total number of US recon missions in China’s backyard, accusing Washington of “intensive military activity.”
In its annual report, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) stated that the US had launched an estimated 1,000 reconnaissance aircraft sorties over the South China Sea in 2022, with many of these “flying within 13 nautical miles of China’s maritime territorial baseline.”
It also included the number of US Carrier Strike Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups that entered the region, which it stated eight times, and thirteen times for US nuclear-powered attack submarines.
Two Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAVs (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
At first glance, both drones appear to have identical characteristics. However, aside from opposing technological specifications, the American Triton and Chinese Soaring Dragon differ in performance, with the former capable of operating for about 30 hours—three times the endurance hours of the latter.
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