New Dagger Shaped High-altitude Reconnaissance Drone Debuts at China’s National Day Parade

At China’s National Day parade on October 1, the country’s new dagger-shaped high-altitude reconnaissance drone, the WZ-8, was unveiled.

It could likely be able to fly at a high-supersonic speed and have stealth capabilities, military analysts said. They added that the new drone has small wings and is shaped like a dagger. It is meant to be launched in the air via a bomber or transport aircraft.

The drone could provide more reliable reconnaissance data than satellites. The biggest advantage of the drone is that it can effectively gather intelligence in real time in a controllable way compared to other platforms like satellites, Wu Jian, editor of Defense Weekly under Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News, was quoted as saying by Global Times.

Explaining his point, Wu said that a satellite can conduct reconnaissance only when it is above the target, rendering it vulnerable to detection by the enemy forces.

“On the other hand, a high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance drone will not have this problem. It can effectively perform reconnaissance missions and communicate with Chinese forces regarding when to launch a strike,” Wu asserted.