China's deployment of its most advanced long-range surveillance drone in South China Sea poses a major challenge to US stealth aircraft and air superiority in the region, according to a Chinese military commentator.
US defense news site The War Zone reported last week that satellite images confirmed that the high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft WZ-9 Drones had been operating since December from a key military base on the southern island of Hainan.
The plane was spotted at Ledong Air Base, also known as Northeast Foluo Air Base, near other strategic sites including the Yulin Naval Base, which houses nuclear-powered missile submarines, according to the report.
The jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operates at altitudes of up to 25,000 meters (82,000 feet), can fly for up to 35 hours and its radars can see up to 500 km (310 miles), allowing constant surveillance of vast maritime regions, according to the report.
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Ancient People's Liberation Army Instructor Song Zhongping said the drone's radar array seriously challenges the U.S. military's reliance on stealth technology for air superiority and weakens the U.S. combat force in the Indo-Pacific.
