GJ-11 Sharp Sword

China's first operational stealth flying-wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle — a penetrating strike and ISR platform that demonstrated manned-unmanned teaming with J-20 fighters and is evolving into a carrier-capable naval derivative.

Overview

The GJ-11 Sharp Sword (officially Xuanlong / Mysterious Dragon, earlier known as the Lijian demonstrator) is a tailless, single-engine flying-wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed to carry precision strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads inside low-observable internal bays. It is the fruit of China’s 601-S flying-wing research program, matured from a 2013 technology demonstrator into a refined stealth configuration paraded in 2019 and declared operational by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in late 2025. The type is central to China’s emerging manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) doctrine — public footage shows it flying as a loyal wingman to J-20 and J-16D fighters — and a naval derivative, the GJ-21, is actively flight-testing for carrier and amphibious assault ship operations.

Development

The Sharp Sword program emerged in 2009 as part of the AVIC-led 601-S family of low-observable flying-wing studies. The Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (SYADI) took the design lead while Hongdu Aviation Industry Group (HAIG) built the airframe. A demonstrator with an exposed engine nozzle — the Lijian — began ground testing in December 2012 and made a roughly 20-minute maiden flight from HAIG’s airfield on 21 November 2013, making China the fourth nation to fly a stealth UCAV after the United States, France and the United Kingdom, according to Wikipedia.

The program then entered a long period of opacity before a drastically redesigned, fully shielded exhaust configuration — now designated GJ-11 — rolled across Tiananmen Square during the 1 October 2019 National Day parade. The U.S. Army’s ODIN Worldwide Equipment Guide lists a 2020 introduction date for the type, but Chinese authorities formally announced the land-based GJ-11’s entry into PLAAF operational service in November 2025, as reported by The War Zone. The same month the PLAAF unveiled the official name Xuanlong (Mysterious Dragon) and released the first footage of the aircraft in flight.

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