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The AVIC Dark Sword (Chinese: 暗剑; pinyin: Àn Jiàn) is a type of stealth, supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle from the People's Republic of China. It is being developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China's Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute for the air superiority or deep strike roles.[2] Use as an autonomous wingman for manned aircraft may also be a goal.[3][4]

Dark Sword
Role	Stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle Type of aircraft
National origin	People's Republic of China
Designer	Aviation Industry Corporation of China Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute
Status	In development
Developed from	AVIC 601-S[1]

Development

A conceptual model appeared in 2006 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition[2] Early concepts featured a conical planform, static foreplane canards, a wide tail section with canted vertical stabilizers, swept wings, and a single-engine with forward-swept chin-mounted intake. A sub-scale demonstrator may have flown by mid-2018.[3]

An image of a full-scale mock-up or demonstrator emerged in mid-2018. It was at least 12 meters long and shared low-observability features with contemporary Chinese aircraft including a diverterless supersonic inlet.[2][3]

The drone could potentially be paired with Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, specifically the twin-seat J-20S for aircraft teaming. Various "loyal wingman" prototypes, including the Dark Sword, were developed in China.[5][6]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma
• Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat
• Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie
• Northrop Grumman X-47B
• Dassault nEUROn
• Sukhoi Okhotnik

Related lists

• List of unmanned aerial vehicles of China

References

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