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New Footage Shows China’s First Intercontinental Range Stealth Bomber in Testing
Chinese Intercontinental Range Unmanned Stealth Aircraft Over Xinjiang in September 2026
September-4th-2026
New footage from China’s Xinjiang province has shown an intercontinental range flying wing stealth aircraft in flight, which has been widely speculated to be a prototype unmanned bomber intended to transform the country’s airborne strike capabilities.
The images confirm prior assessments that the aircraft has a very substantial internal volume, allowing for a sizeable internal weapons load and fuel capacity. The first image of a Chinese intercontinental range unmanned stealth aircraft in flight was released on October 19, 2025, after satellite footage from an Air Force test base near Malan, Xinjiang province, having provided a first look at the aircraft in mid-June.
China currently relies on extended range variants of the H-6 medium bomber with long range missiles and support from new YY-20 tankers to reach targets on the continental United States, which while formidable, are limited in their capabilities compared to intercontinental range stealth aircraft.
The new unmanned aircraft has the potential to be a game changer, expanding the reach of Chinese combat aviation across the Atlantic and into the Arctic and beyond, allowing the country to safeguard its strategic interests while its range compensates for a lack of foreign bases.
The new appears comparable in size to the U.S. B-2 strategic bomber, with both having wingspans of around 52 meters, although as a much newer design with no need to accommodate crew its range is expected to be very considerably longer.
China has increasingly led the world in its combat aviation capabilities, and is expected to bring its first sixth generation fighters into service around a decade before rival programs abroad.
Its sixth generation fighter developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation is both by far the largest and heaviest in the world, and the first with a tailless design, providing comparable stealth capabilities to next generation strategic bombers and sufficient endurance to escort them. Major advances in Chinese engine technologies have been highly beneficial to both bomber and fighter programs.
The United States is notably not known to be developing aircraft of comparable sizes to the new Chinese flying wing design, with its new much smaller B-21 bomber lacking the range to strike targets across China from the continental United States, and will be forced to rely on aerial refuelling to do so.
