posted on Nov, 22 2012 @ 01:08 PM
I think the general estimate is that China is about two generations behind (in the 80's) in terms of VLO tech, but I imagine the pace they have
advanced over the past 10 years or so would reduce that gap a fair bit. Also, bear in mind that the Chinese have created a lot of advanced-looking
aircraft such as the J-20 but still haven't been able to bring them into production despite years of development (they can't get the engines on the
J-20 right for instance).
With regards to the new drone, it might resemble the MQ-9 Reaper but its pretty easy to create a small, long endurance platform like that. The
difficulty is packing it with useful sensors and them being able to reliably control it from a significant distance.