China’s Giant Spy Drone Just Tailed a U.S. Navy Cruiser

China’s Giant Spy Drone Just Tailed a U.S. Navy Cruiser | The National Interest

China reportedly activated one of its Soar Dragon large spy drones to keep tabs on a U.S. Navy cruiser that sailed through the Taiwan Strait in late July 2019.
The Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Antietam transited the Taiwan Strait on July 24, 2019 as a show of force. In addition to the Soar Eagle, Beijing sortied J-11 fighters 10 times during Antietam’s nine-hour transit, according to Taiwan’s Up Media.

With a wingspan measuring around 80 feet and an endurance of perhaps 10 hours, the subsonic Soar Eagle is China’s answer to the U.S. military’s own Global Hawk surveillance drone. The unmanned aerial vehicle also is known by its Chinese name Xianglong.
The Global Hawk, which the U.S. Air Force and Navy operate in separate variants, can surveil hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean on a single mission, detecting and tracking ships among other potential targets

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Not a huge surprise, and probably not to our Navy.

American said:

China’s Giant Spy Drone Just Tailed a U.S. Navy Cruiser | The National Interest



Not a huge surprise, and probably not to our Navy.

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Really a great spy plane... huge 80 foot wingspan that we can see tailing our cruiser. :lol:

Well done China!

Interesting an 80 foot wingspan. Aren't drones supposed to inconspicuous? Why would anyone float a slow moving monster. Easy target, easy to spot, slow moving, this is not good for a drone. The article also states it takes 200 people to launch a mission. It is clear the Chinese are far behind us on drone technology.

BahamaBob said:

Interesting an 80 foot wingspan. Aren't drones supposed to inconspicuous? Why would anyone float a slow moving monster. Easy target, easy to spot, slow moving, this is not good for a drone. The article also states it takes 200 people to launch a mission. It is clear the Chinese are far behind us on drone technology.

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Its a high altitude long endurance stable observation platform. Its probably very good at what it does.

This is pretty reasonably believed to be it. Some folk say the sucker looks like a Chinese kite.

Supposed to be capable of 750 kph at 16K meters to 18K meters for 10 hours. Expected to be deployed to border with India, South China Sea, East Sea at Japan and South Korea, Taiwan.



There has been speculation about the mass production of Xianlong in defense technology websites in China since July 2016 when Guizhou Aviation Industry Group published a photo of one of its manufacturing facilities on the internet.
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The XianLong operates from three PLA Air Force bases: Lingshui air base on Hainan island at the South China Sea; Yishuntun air base near the northeastern city of Jilin and just 200 miles from North Korea; and Shigatse in Tibet, near the Doklam/Donglang plateau disputed by China, and, India on behalf of Bhutan.





"The Xianglong's unique design makes it suitable for long operations at high altitude. Once the drone is commissioned to the military, it will boost the PLA's long-range reconnaissance capabilities," Wang Ya'nan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told China Daily in 2016. "Moreover, the jet is a good platform for electronic warfare operations such as signal intelligence collection and electronic jamming."

However, according to Up Media, the drone was far from the only aircraft rallied during the transit to make the USS Antietam feel unwelcome: Beijing's J-11 and Su-30 fighters sortied 10 times during the transit. Further, the US Navy cruiser dispatched one of its MH-60 Seahawk helicopters during the transit, which flew close to the western shore of the strait, and thus undisputed Chinese territory.

It was also reportedly the first time the People's Liberation Army sent aircraft to monitor a nighttime Taiwan Strait transit, which Washington calls a "freedom of navigation operation" or FONOPS. The outlet's report also noted the USS Antietam was accompanied through the strait by a P-8 Poseidon, a large anti-ship, anti-submarine and electronic warfare aircraft derived from Boeing's 737-800, which served as the ship's early warning.

China's New Soar Dragon Spy Drone Tailed a US Cruiser in Taiwan Strait



Our guys are not alone out there whether on land, at sea or in the air.

US knows this drone and has been tracking its development closely for more than a dozen years. This was a great opportunity for Pacific Command in Japan to track, measure and score the PLA Air Force drone very close up. Taiwan AF and Navy trackers were practically under the XingLong from its head to belly.

The Chinese language reports mention a few things I don't see in the English language news I have read or glanced at. My Chinese is horrendous but I feel confident about the Chinese I read for several reasons, to include the obvious expectation by U.S. Pacific Command the Boyz in Beijing were going to do a launch and do the launch at night which is what occurred. It's a first time night response by Beijing to USN ships sailing through the Strait.

Unsaid in English news reports that I know I read and understood in the Chinese reports are:


Taiwan Republic of China Air Force upgraded E-2T AWACS/ AEW&C planes are transported to bases after upgrades.

A Taiwan Air Force E-2T AWAC was deployed. It is the E-2T Hawkeye 2000 AEW&C areal early warning and control aircraft, as identified and reported by Beijing.

Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force elements monitored activity from their closeby and strong defensive positions at the Miyako Strait immediately north of Taiwan. The Japan MSDF deployment at the north of the Strait included a submarine (unidentified publicly by PLA Navy).

PLA military reports interchanged repeatedly P-8 Poseidon and P-3 Poseidon for the actual USN P-8 Poseidon that was deployed.

On the day before Russian fighter jets violated South Korean airspace.

PLA air and sea forces kept referring to USS Antietam as "Antiant," which suggests their Chinese pronunciations of English continues to need work.

PLA Navy Center Fleet said Antietam left the "center line" of the Strait to the area called "Taiwan Beach" which are undisputed waters of Beijing along their west shore of the Strait. A PLA Navy surface ship and submarine trailing Antietam had to veer off when the "Beach" water became only 20 meters deep. Antietam then returned to the Strait "center line." PLA claimed it had "warned off" Antietam.

Taiwan is in the zone of the PLA Navy Center Fleet. Taiwan is however at the line of jurisdiction of the PLA Navy South Fleet at the South China Sea. It's long been known the two fleet headquarters aren't ever quite clear who does what under given circumstances. (PLA Navy has 3 fleets: North, Center, South, South Fleet being the largest.)


I am certain the Chinese language public military reports by PLA didn't include everything either.

PirateMk1 said:

Its a high altitude long endurance stable observation platform. Its probably very good at what it does.

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It just hasn't done it yet.

Still waiting over there in Beijing for it to achieve its touted magnificent heights. So you shouldn't hold your breath either.

Meanwhile this numbnuts deployment of it to all of Pacific Command's intelligence capacity and capability confirms how inept the Boyz in Beijing are as a matter of fact.

With losers like this who needs enemies.

It's fairly obvious the drone was plonked right in the middle of the straight as a gesture.

The fact that is was easily spotted was the entire point. They were saying "we are here and we are watching you".