China’s Massive WZ-9 Divine Eagle Drone Now Operating From South China Sea Base

China’s large, jet-powered, twin-fuselage WZ-9 Divine Eagle drone has been operating at least sporadically out of an airbase on the highly-strategic Hainan Island at the northern end of the hotly contested South China Sea since at least December 4th. This is a new indication that this highly important aircraft is now at least in a semi-operational state.

The WZ-9 is a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) uncrewed ‘sensor truck’ that carries multiple radars capable of spotting and tracking targets over vast areas. These include objects in the air and on the surface below, as well as producing high-quality map-like radar images. While the operational status of the Divine Eagle is unclear, operations from Hainan would make perfect sense for providing valuable broad-area early warning and surveillance coverage out into the South China Sea and potentially far beyond.

A satellite image TWZ obtained from Planet Labs, seen below, shows the WZ-9 drone at Ledong Air Base, also known as Foluo Northeast Air Base, on December 4, 2024. Ledong/Folou is a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) facility situated at Hainan’s southwestern end. Hainan is an absolutely critical location for the People’s Liberation Army that hosts multiple bases, including two sprawling naval facilities, one of which supports the country’s second strike nuclear deterrent and features a submarine cave complex.

Two additional drones are seen in the image, one of which is a WZ-7 Soaring Dragon with its own highly distinctive joined-wing design. WZ-7s have been operating from Ledong/Folou since at least 2022. What the other uncrewed aircraft, which has a v-shaped tail, might be is not as immediately obvious, but it could be a member of the popular Wing Loong family. There were also reports that jet-powered WZ-10s, which have v-tails, were flying from the base last year, although the aircraft in the image does not match that more advanced type.

Additional satellite images, seen at the top of this story and below, from Maxar Technologies, show the Divine Eagle drone still at Ledong/Folou as of just yesterday.

Details about the WZ-9, the development of which reportedly traces back at least to the early 2010s, remain limited and it’s unknown how many examples may currently exist. Imagery of the exotic-looking Divine Eagle that has emerged to date, along with renderings and models, show it 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 in a nacelle pod on top of the main wing between its two vertical tails.

The span of the WZ-9’s main wing is around 147 feet (45 meters), but its overall length is just shy of 50 feet (15 meters). For comparison, the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE drone has a wingspan of just under 131 feet (nearly 40 meters) and is almost 48 feet (14.5 meters) long.

At least one model has previously emerged indicating that the WZ-9 has at least two large side-looking radars (SLARs), one in each fuselage facing outward. These radars may have ground moving-target indicator and air moving-target indicator (GMTI/AMTI) capabilities, as well as the ability to produce synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery.

Not sure how credible this desk-top model of the WZ-9 Divine Eagle AEW UAV is, but it shows the internal structure of the antenna array.

Also it is the first time a model of the WZ-9 (?) is carrying the PLAAF symbol.

(Image via 柳成梁/FB) pic.twitter.com/rIcb4AZhRH

— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 18, 2022

The WZ-9 may have made its maiden flight in 2015 and Divine Eagles have been seen in the skies above parts of China since then, including in a video seen immediately below that emerged online in December.

神雕ことWZ-9 Divine Eagleの飛行映像だ……
対ステルスも考慮された大型の早期警戒UAVです。ちょくちょく目撃例は上がってましたが何れも衛星画像や飛行中の画像で、飛行中の映像が確認されたのはこれが初なはずです。 pic.twitter.com/WUZzzZda8k

— お砂糖wsnbn (@sugar_wsnbn) December 28, 2024

Un #drone HALE WZ-9 a été photographié fin Juillet par un internaute chinois à Anshun, dans la province du Guizhou, près de l’usine d’assemblage de GAIC. pic.twitter.com/kFjcmK31Cl

— East Pendulum (@HenriKenhmann) August 6, 2023

Divine Eagles have also been spotted in past satellite imagery on the ground at manufacturer Shenyang Air Corporation’s main plant in the city of the same name, the PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) Malan Air Base test and evaluation hub in far western Xinjiang Province, and Anshun Huangguoshu Airport in southeastern Guizhou Province.

What the WZ-9’s maximum range and endurance might be is unknown. TWZ has noted in the past that the design looks intended to fill a need for a higher-end HALE design as higher-performing counterpart to the WZ-7 that is designed around the ability to carry two large radar arrays. Advanced passive radio frequency detection capabilities are also likely to be present on the WZ-9. Reports about the Divine Eagle’s have also long pointed to the airborne early warning role in addition to the ability to perform other intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, whereas the WZ-7 has been more focused on general ISR.

The PLAAF and the PLAN have already fielded an impressive array of increasingly capable crewed airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, the majority of which are turboprop-powered designs, as you can read more about in this past TWZ feature. The PLA continues to make significant investments in this area. A new AEW&C aircraft based on the Y-20 four-engine jet-powered cargo plane, offering advantages in terms of speed, range, on-station time, and altitude over turboprop types, is now in development.

The HALE WZ-9 would fit in well with this existing AEW&C ecosystem. Altitude is especially important for the airborne early warning mission, particularly when it comes ‘look down’ capability to find low-flying aircraft and missiles that radars down below might not be able to ‘see’ because of terrain and other factors. A higher perch also offers a much better line of sight, which can increase the area a single platform can surveil.

As already noted, the current operational status of the WZ-9 is not clear, but the presence of a Divine Eagle in Hainan for months now could point to the drone being at a very mature phase of testing or even semi-operational, if not fully operational. Basing the drone at Ledong/Folou makes good sense from an operational perspective, too. From there, Divine Eagles could monitor broad swaths of the South China Sea. China claims the bulk of this body of water as its national territory, something that is not recognized by the vast majority of the international community. The PLA has been working for years now to expand its anti-access and area denial capabilities (A2/AD) in the region to help assert its claims. This includes a number of man-made islands with airstrips that also host anti-ship and surface-to-air missile batteries.

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 would also be 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, in the future.

WZ-9 flying from Hainan could also conduct similar missions to the north around Taiwan, but they could be an even more powerful force multiplier further out into the Pacific. Divine Eagles could stage from other bases across China to provide coverage of this vast and desolate space, 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.

The aircraft could also play a role in areas at the center of other territorial disputes, as well as overland, especially along the country’s contested borders with India, although just how optimized its radar and software is to the maritime environment isn’t known.

All of this follows the PLA’s increasing use of drones overall to conduct more persistent surveillance of areas of high strategic interest, as well as China’s general pursuit of ever-more capable uncrewed aircraft, in recent years.

The WZ-9, which has now emerged in the highly strategic South China Sea, is well in line with those trends.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com