WZ-9 drone – China’s “sensor truck” in the air

Revolutionary early warning and ISR drone to detect stealth fighters and bombers

When the B-2 stealth bombers attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, Trump regime showed the world that countries are vulnerable without air defense systems that can detect and destroy advanced stealth platforms.

Stealth jets such as B-2 or F-35 are designed to minimize their radar cross sections on traditional radars with their aerodynamic designs and special coatings. They are exceptionally difficult to detect, especially from the front where radar scans typically originate.

However, the stealth performance degrades significantly when such jets are observed from above. Hence high-flying airborne early warning aircraft (AEW&C) are an important part of air defense against stealth jets.

Manned AEW&Cs have natural endurance limits due to crew requirements. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), on the other hand, can provide continuous surveillance and reconnaissance over a wide geographic area.

China has recently deployed such a high-altitude long endurance (HALE) UAV into service. The WZ-9 Divine Eagle is a jet-powered UAV for early warning and ISR missions. It is a verifiable “sensor truck” that carries multiple radars capable of spotting and tracking stealth targets over vast areas, as well as producing high-quality map-like radar images.

The drone features a twin fuselage design and has a very long high-aspect-ratio wing at the rear, as well as a smaller wing structure between the front ends of the two fuselages serving as a forward stabilizer.

The drone is powered by a single jet engine mounted on top of the main wing between its two vertical tails. WZ-9 is 15 meters long and the span of its main wing is 45 meters. For comparison, the RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE drone for the US air force is 14 meters long and has a wingspan of 40 meters.

The WZ-9 has two large side-looking radars (SLARs), one in each fuselage facing outward. These radars feature ground moving-target indicator and air moving-target indicator capabilities as well as the ability to produce synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery.

WZ-9 also features advanced passive radio frequency detection capabilities, allowing the drone discreet monitoring while avoiding detection itself. This capability allows the drone, and the shooter supported by such a drone, the advantage of surprise attack against the target without its knowing.

WZ-9 Divine Eagle operates at altitudes of up to 25,000 meters and can fly 35 hours. Its radar detection range is up to 500 kilometers, enabling constant surveillance across vast maritime regions.

The twin fuselage design incorporates domes in the front sections that support a range of advanced radar systems such as AESA (active electronically scanned array) that are built to track stealth aircraft, warships, and submarines over vast distances. These aircraft included the F-35, the F-22, the B2 and B-21 bombers.

WZ-9

Unlike conventional reconnaissance drones, the WZ-9 integrates intelligence gathering and counter-stealth functions, making it a formidable force multiplier. It will serve both as an early warning system, identifying low-flying aerial threats such as cruise missiles, and a source of real-time intelligence to Chinese air and naval forces.

Another feature of the drone is its ability to create a dense network of interconnected systems to coordinate with other unmanned aerial vehicles such as the WZ-7 Soaring Dragon.

Such networking capabilities further extend the WZ-7’s strategic value, seamlessly integrating with the PLA’s manned-unmanned systems, ensuring operational redundancy and flexibility, making it more challenging for adversaries to disrupt the entire network.

WZ-7

The PLAAF and the PLAN (China’s air force and navy) have already fielded a large array of increasingly capable crewed AEW&Cs, the majority of which are turboprop-powered. The latest addition, KJ-3000, is based on the Y-20 four engine jet-powered cargo plane and is widely considered as the world’s most sophisticated AEW&C in service, especially after the US air force cancelled the planned Boeing E-7 Wedgetail as a replacement for the aging E-3 Sentry.

The HALE WZ-9 Divine Eagle fits in well with this existing AEW&C ecosystem.

As part of the PLA’s A2/AD strategy in the South China Sea, WZ-9s could fly more persistent orbits for long periods, covering broader areas than their manned counterparts.

In this capacity, the WZ-9 is able to act as a highly valuable source of situational awareness and targeting data. This includes providing key data for air, ground, and ship-launched missiles. The Divine Eagle is large enough that it might be able to take on additional roles, including as a communications signal relay and battle command center for drone swarms.

When positioned to the east of Taiwan, WZ-9 could be a powerful force multiplier for power projection into the Pacific, working as a critical component of complex kill chains stationed at the forward edge. Data from its radars could provide critical real-time targeting updates for long-range weapons and detect enemy aerial and surface movements from extreme standoff ranges.

In modern air wars, what can be seen will be destroyed. While Iran proved defenseless against US stealth bombers, China’s deployment of unmanned early warning platforms such as WZ-9 is a major challenge to US stealth aircraft and air superiority.