Roughly 14m long for the J-36 looking one and 12m long for the J-XDS looking one(The one on top of the J-36 looking one).
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- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Did they show off GJ-11 before inducting into service in 2019? That seems kinda un-PLA like to show off things before its even ready. They usually tend to hide as many capabilities as possible.
GJ-11 was shown at the 2019 parade, and technically even up to now in 2025 GJ-11 has yet to enter regular frontline service probably because they are still assessing how best to manage its tactics and integrate into a warfighting concept.
However as a program, GJ-11 back in 2019 was already in late stages of development and likely in user trials at the time.
In the case of CCAs, it is also likely that they are in late stages of development and/or user trials, but like GJ-11 it doesn't mean they have entered frontline service. Putting it another way, if they are revealing some CCAs, it would be an indication that the ones they show are likely at minimum in late stages of development.
So they are roughly JL-10/JF-17 (i.e. light fighter)-sized.
Feels like they are kinda small for high-tier CCA-type UCAVs... but that might just be me.
Either these are just scaled models - Or that future Chinese high-tier CCA-type UCAVs really are in such size categories, given how the F-35 family is only about 15-16 meters long, and the J-35/A family is about 17-18 meters long.
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Considering the likes of YFQ-44 and YFQ-42 (medium tier CCAs) are only like 6m long, CCAs of 12-14m length is fairly appropriate for a higher end CCA/UCAV especially with current technology as a "first go".
And chances are they have even higher end CCAs in development as well -- there is no reason to expect the UCAVs/CCAs that may show at the parade to be the totality of what they have in development.
And let's remember something like F-16 or J-10 is 15-16m long, and they are proper full sized manned fighters.
That said, if they do have that many variety of CCAs/UCAVs (potentially as many as five different unique CCA airframe types) that the satellite image shows/suggests, of that size range, then it is already quite an impressive outlay of CCA/UCAV types.
If anything the number of these large sized CCAs is quite impressive -- I was expecting maybe one or two types of CCAs in the 6m length class at most, but we're seeing potentially up to 5 different airframes from 10-14m in size.
Because GJ-11 is intended not just to function as a regular UAV but rather for manned unmanned teaming use, aka loyal wingman, it likely has more sophisticated AI systems that will need a lot more debugging than more traditional unmanned aircraft. These are after all highly sophisticated and secret programs, and may prove critical in any future conflict.
Futhermore, we really haven't seen much publically revealed about any world military's next-gen unmanned aircraft intended to fill that role. I think it will be a slow rollout in terms of the release of information, and that the PLAARF may pace what they release and how they release it based on what other air forces make public.
Kizilelma is not what comes to mind when someone thinks high end next generation CCAs. It's listed combat radius is only 500nmi which is far shorter than expected combat radius of the Chinese 6th gens, IMO a similar range is required to keep up especially for a pacific war scenario where long range air superiority is critical. I personally think the actual PLAAF CCA design will be far larger ie. J-10 sized at the minimum, but PLAN might make due for smaller CCAs possibly like the ones shown on the flatbed due to space constraints.
Per the USAF, the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A are supposed to have combat radii of more than 700 nautical miles (i.e. ~300 kilometers).
Not sure how they're getting that range with such small sizes (~6-7 meters), but perhaps sacrificing payload capacity and supersonic capability are the prerequisites.
In the meantime, on the other side of the Pacific - I suppose it depends on what the PLAAF (and the PLANAF, following suit) demand from their high-tier CCA-type UCAVs. IMHO, if these UCAVs couldn't have comparable ranges to the manned fighters (which is, understandable, especially compared to the J-36 and J-XDS) while still need to be supersonic-capable, then mid-air refueling will become a must-have capability for them. This means that in addition to their aerial combat capability of complementing manned fighters, these UCAVs must also be able to conduct mid-air refueling (mostly) autonomously with the other (perhaps also similarly unmanned) tankers.
In fact, high-tier CCA-type UCAVs and the tanker UAVs could in fact come as pairs as a standard in the future.
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