China’s GJ-11 Sharp Sword UCAV Captured Flying | Aviation

Experts previously said China possibly intends to use the flying wing UCAV for carrier aviation, after satellite images of the GJ-11’s test models on a carrier flight deck’s mockup.

Just after The Aviationist reported the presence of a flying-wing test model at a known radar research site in eastern China and touched upon the GJ-11 Sharp Sword UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), the drone was spotted flying overhead in a video recorded by Chinese citizens. It was initially believed that this was the first time an airborne GJ-11 was captured on video.

However, Chinese military aviation analyst Andreas Rupprecht later mentioned that there are at least two more instances of the drone caught on video while in flight. The first one known was allegedly in December 2020, while the second was possibly in late 2023.

Apparently the new GJ-11 image (1) is not the first one showing it in flight and more and more images (2&3) are being posted … the one in daylight is allegedly from December 2020 taken somewhere around Nanchang and the one at noon is unknown. pic.twitter.com/7KEwKHTBk4

— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) August 23,…