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China debuts multiple wingman, air superiority drones; to profoundly change future air combat: experts

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun, Fan Wei and Liang Rui Published: Sep 03, 2025 11:19 AM

Multiple completely new types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) debuted at China's V-day military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, attracting widespread attention with their highly futuristic appearances.

Military affairs experts told the Global Times that some of the UAVs showcased at the parade not only have new appearances, but also embody new concepts, which could overturn the existing air combat scenarios and profoundly change the future air combat.

UAVs reviewed this time include new armed reconnaissance drones, wingman drones, air superiority drones, and shipborne unmanned helicopters. These aircraft are all debuting for the first time. They are capable of stealth attacks, with wide coverage and autonomous collaboration, bringing innovative new patterns for future air combat.

Wingman drones, also known as "loyal wingmen," represent a key concept in recent years within the drone sector and are widely regarded as a vital component of future unmanned combat systems.

A technical expert told the Global Times previously that wingman drones can operate in close formation with manned warplanes, enabling efficient coordination in air superiority, air defense and suppression, as well as escort tasks. This approach not only addresses limitations such as the limited operational capacity of manned aircraft and aging fleets but also facilitates the development of new unmanned combat capabilities to establish a manned-unmanned collaborative warfare pattern.

Serving as both sensors and ammunition depots, these drones also function as intelligent assistants to human pilots. On one hand, they extend pilots' operational awareness and strike capabilities; on the other hand, they also function as intelligent nodes within air combat system through large-scale swarm-based general deployment. Each wingman drone acquires local combat information, filters them and integrates data to form a comprehensive battlefield picture, and assists human pilots in decision-making. This liberates pilots from dangerous, high-stress combat environments, enabling them to go beyond traditional pilot roles and assume the roles of commanders of aerial formations, according to the expert.

"Simply put, wingman drones can serve as external sensors and weapon stations for manned aircraft, working alongside them to carry out combat missions," explained military affairs expert Zhang Xuefeng. He told the Global Times that wingman drones can act as decoys for manned aircraft to confuse adversaries, conduct target reconnaissance, and even perform electronic jamming. Each of the wingman drones showcased this time possesses distinct capabilities, some are suited for extended subsonic cruising, while others boast fast speed and high maneuverability. This demonstrates that China's wingman drone technology encompasses a diverse range of approaches.

In addition to wingman drones, another new type of unmanned aerial combat equipment at the parade is the air superiority drone, which also marks the debut of this new concept of unmanned combat equipment.

"The air superiority drones can be seen as one of the most cutting-edge weapons and equipment in the entire aerial unmanned combat formations. This type of UAV has strong independent aerial combat capabilities. From a global perspective, this type of unmanned equipment is leading and pioneering," Zhang said, noting that the combat concept embodied by this unmanned combat equipment will overturn the existing air combat scenarios and profoundly change future air combat mode.

Zhang further noted that from its appearance, the air superiority drones have the advantages of high stealth, high autonomy, and high maneuverability.

"The reason why I emphasize the drones' high autonomy and advantages is because most of the combat drones demonstrated by China previously were mainly used to attack ground targets, which are usually remotely operated by personnel from afar. However, in air-to-air combat scenarios, it will be difficult to use drones solely relying on remote control from long distances," Zhang explained.

The air combat environment is extremely complex and the battlefield situation is constantly changing; Therefore, in order for drones to participate in air-to-air combat, they must have a high degree of autonomous combat capability. This also means that the air superiority drones may have more advanced avionics and AI systems to achieve autonomous control, Zhang added.

Zhang further explained that UAVs can have stronger maneuverability than manned aerial vehicles when performing aerial combat missions. Modern fighter pilots can withstand a load of up to 9G, while drones are not limited by human pilots. This gives them certain advantages in aerial combat against manned aircraft. In addition, Zhang believes that high stealth is reflected in the smaller size of the UAVs, and stealth design can be given priority, without considering pilot factors.

Notably, some of the new drones showcased this time also adopt a tailless design.

"The tailless configuration has stronger stealth performance than the V-shaped vertical tails, and can achieve omnidirectional and full spectrum stealth," military affairs expert Fu Qianshao told the Global Times. He said that canceling vertical tail normally poses a great challenge to the aircraft's flight control system. The drones unveiled on Wednesday adopt tailless configurations, which also indicates that China has solved this challenge. Having mastered highly advanced aerodynamic control technology, it is likely that this technology can also be applied to manned aircraft, Fu said.

"Wingman drones and air superiority drones are the direction of drone technology development, and many countries are making efforts. China has unveiled multiple new types of UAVs at once, which also shows that China is at the forefront of the world in this field," said Fu.

In addition, a type of shipborne unmanned helicopter was included in the aerial unmanned combat formations. Fu said that unmanned helicopters can perform a variety of tasks, including early warning, reconnaissance, anti-ship, anti-submarine, search and rescue, and transportation.

"Since there is no need for carrying pilots, the range, endurance, and flexibility of unmanned helicopters are higher than those of manned helicopters of a similar size. The relatively small size also means that it can be carried by various types of ships such as frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships, and aircraft carriers, and also in larger numbers," said Fu.