According to the recently leaked US Intelligence document published in a Washington Post article, the satellite imagery (possibly provided by the US National Reconnaissance Office) taken on August 9, 2022 suggests that the Liuan Airfield, an inland airfield within the Eastern Theater Command in Anhui Province is now the home base for the new supersonic drone. Upon closer inspection of the image, WZ-8 ground activities could be seen in the air base with an airframe parked inside an aircraft shelter as well as another one being towed on the runway.
WZ-8
Developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the WZ-8‘s role and Concept of Operations is highly similar to another short-lived high-speed, high-altitude drone from the 60s, the Lockheed Skunk Works’ D-21. Based on the projected notional mission profile from the document, since the WZ-8 is not capable of taking off with its own power, it would require the H-6M Badger Bomber to act as a “Mothership” to carry it to a launch position all the way from its home base, the Liuan Airfield. Upon reaching the desired speed and altitude, the drone would separate from the H-6M and light up its rocket engines to begin its climb and acceleration.
Capable of reaching the speed of Mach 3 and an altitude of 100,000 ft (30km), the WZ-8 is unlike any other drones in the current Chinese Air Force inventory. It is a drone aimed to provide “Penetrating ISR” capability against time-sensitive targets. In other words, it was designed to take advantage of its high-speed and high-altitude performance to try to evade interception from air defense missiles and fighters, make a recce run through the area where the targets of interest are located and survey them with its onboard Synthetic Aperture Radar and Electro Optical Sensor Packages in a limited time window.
The document listed out several potential WZ-8 landing airfields, including the Zhangzhou Airfield, Huian Airfield, Fuzhou Yixu Airfield and Dashuipo Airfield. After the recce run, both the drone and the bomber would land at the same airfield in order to ferry the drone back to Liuan Airfield, its home base. In addition to the projected ISR mission profile against the targets of interest within the west coast of South Korea and Taiwan that the document depicted, the WZ-8 might also be used to confirm the position of another time sensitive target, the US Carrier Strike Group. The high-speed, high altitude drone might be used complement the existing Chinese Kill Chain by plotting its location and help coordinating other units to form an anti-ship raid against it.
WZ-8 Specification:
Length: 11.5m
Wingspan: 6.7m
Propulsion: 2 Rocket Engines
Speed: Mach 3.0 (NGA document)/ Mach 6+ (Chinese Media)
Altitude: 100,000 ft (NGA document) /160,000 ft (Chinese Media)
