China Tests First Stealth Combat Drone: Media

China has tested its first stealth combat drone, state media said Friday, citing online photos of an aircraft resembling a shrunken U.S. B2 bomber and hailing the advance toward Western-level technology.

The test flight of the “Sharp Sword” unmanned aircraft is another step in China's years-long military build-up, with its defense spending now the second highest in the world and growing by double-digit percentages each year.

It comes weeks after Tokyo said a drone had flown near East China Sea islands claimed by both it and Beijing, ratcheting tensions between the rivals up another notch.

“The successful flight shows the nation has again narrowed the air-power disparity between itself and Western nations,” the China Daily newspaper said, adding the flight made China the “fourth power... capable of putting a stealth drone into the sky.”

Images posted online showed a sleek gray delta-wing aircraft apparently powered by a jet engine and resembling an American combat drone.

State broadcaster CCTV, citing eyewitnesses, said on its international channel that the test flight lasted 20 minutes on Thursday afternoon in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

The flight “implies that China has made the leap from drones to combat drones”, it said, calling it the move of “major significance.”

Hong Kong-based military expert Andrei Chang said that by producing a heavy combat drone China had achieved a milestone claimed by few countries - the U.S., Russia and France - but the design of the aircraft appeared “a little bit naive.”

Unlike in the American version, the engine appeared to be exposed, which would reduce its stealth capabilities, said Chang...