The Type B isn’t just a drone; it’s a call to aerial arms against the US military and its regional allies.
China’s recent military parade displayed some truly shocking new military platforms that should put every US military officer and intelligence analyst on their toes. Not only did China demonstrate indigenously made, advanced systems, but the presence of directed energy weapons, hypersonic weapons, and a variety of sophisticated drones was very troubling. One drone system, in particular, is of concern to the United States Armed Forces.
Known as the Type B Unmanned Air Superiority Fighter (UASF), this massive, tailless stealth drone embodies Beijing’s ambitious quest to attain unmanned aerial dominance. Having watched the Ukraine war and the pervasive presence of drones on both sides, Beijing has resolved to marry its high-tech capabilities with its virtually unmatched superiority in mass production.
And the Type B UASF is a perfect illustration of how Beijing’s military has leapfrogged the US military in this key military domain of unmanned systems.
A fighter-sized unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), this system was not merely a parade prop. It is a harbinger of disrupted power balances in the Indo-Pacific. As China’s Type B UASF enters the fray, it poses a direct challenge to long-standing US military superiority for control over critical hotspots, such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
The Type B USAF
By blending the agility of a manned fighter with the endurance of an uncrewed system, the Type B UASF represents a quantum leap in Chinese drone technology.
Comparable in scale to China’s J-10 manned warplane, the drone features a modified delta wing with cropped diamond-shaped tips for enhanced maneuverability, forward-raked diverterless supersonic intakes that feed a single turbofan engine, and a serrated variable-geometry nozzle to minimize infrared signatures.
Its low-observable stealth design includes a chine line along the fuselage, extensive internal weapons bays for air-to-air missiles and precision munitions, and a chin-mounted electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) akin to the US F-35 Lightning II’s EOTS system. This allows for real-time reconnaissance and targeting solutions.
Optimized for supersonic speeds, long-range missions, and multirole operations—including air superiority, strike, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance—the Type B operates semi-autonomously or as a “loyal wingman” to manned platforms, such as the Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” fifth-generation warplane.
What sets the Type B UASF apart is its public unveiling as a flight-capable prototype, complete with serial numbers from an operational People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) unit, signaling imminent deployment.
Unlike smaller reconnaissance drones, this beastly drone prioritizes high-end combat, potentially saturating enemy defenses with affordable attritable assets.
This technology prowess translates into a profound threat to US air superiority in the region, where American forces have long relied on qualitative edges to project power. The Indo-Pacific’s contested environments—marred by China’s anti-access/area-denial networks of missiles, hypersonic weapons, drones, and advanced radars—amplify the Type B’s disruptive potential.
By denying American access to forward bases in Guam or Japan through precision strikes, China’s PLAAF could leverage swarms of these UCAVs to overwhelm F-22 and F-35 patrols, achieving temporary air denial in the First Island Chain.
What Are These Island Chains?
Strategists have divided the Pacific region of the wider Indo-Pacific area into three island chains. The First Island Chain stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula through Japan and Taiwan (with Taiwan being the centerpiece of this chain) down to the Philippines and the adjacent SCS.
The Second Island Chain extends from Japan through New Guinea via Guam (the latter of which is the United States’ westernmost military hub).
The Third and final chain goes from Alaska’s outlying Aleutian Islands down through Hawaii.
It is my contention that, even without impressive Type B UASF drones, China has likely flipped the balance of military power in the First Island Chain to its favor. Thus far, the United States has not demonstrated an ability to restore its military primacy in the First Island Chain, meaning any fight with China over Taiwan or the SCS will likely end badly for the US military.
The Tactics Involved
The drone’s stealth evades traditional radar detection, allowing it to penetrate defended airspace for intercepts or bombings, while its autonomy reduces the pilot bottleneck that hampers manned operations in high-threat zones. Beijing’s industrial might exacerbates this: China outproduces the United States in aircraft and missiles, enabling massed UCAV deployments that could swarm the defenses of US military assets to exhaustion.
Once depleted and undefended, then other Chinese forces could simply pick off those depleted and undefended American forces or make those broken American forces withdraw before the fighting really begins.
In a Taiwan contingency, for example, Type B UASF swarms could shield amphibious invasions by contesting the skies above, eroding the US Air Force’s and Navy’s ability to establish air superiority—a cornerstone of US military operations since World War II.
Such Chinese UCAVs inflate operational costs on US forces in-theater and risk placing those American forces in a perennial defensive posture, allowing the Chinese time to take whatever they wanted in Taiwan and/or the SCS.
How Is America Responding to the Type B Drone?
Of course, Uncle Sam is not defenseless. And the hallmark of any great military strategy is to know your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Therefore, we must match our relative strengths against China’s relative weaknesses. While lagging in large-scale flying-wing UCAVs—opting instead for collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) like the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat—the Pentagon is accelerating countermeasures tailored to UCAV threats. Key among them is the Replicator Initiative.
While this might sound like something out of Stargate SG-1, the Replicator Initiative is very real and aims to field thousands of attritable drones by next year to better match China’s mass drone advantage—enabling counter-swarms that overwhelm PLAAF systems through sheer volume.
Electronic warfare platforms, such as the Next Generation Jammer on EA-18G Growlers, can disrupt the Type B’s command links and sensors, rendering its autonomy moot in contested electromagnetic spectra.
Hardened aircraft shelters and rapid runway repair kits address base vulnerabilities, mitigating cratering from supporting missiles. Advanced air defenses like the Patriot PAC-3 and emerging directed-energy weapons provide kinetic options, while artificial intelligence-driven threat detection integrates data from F-35 networks for early intercepts.
Recent policy reforms, including streamlined drone acquisitions by the Department of Defense, close manufacturing gaps, though challenges will persist in counter-unmanned aerial systems scalability. These tools, if integrated via joint all-domain command and control, could neutralize Type B incursions, preserving US edges.
Danger Lies Ahead for US Air Superiority in the Indo-Pacific
China’s Type B UASF, paraded as a symbol of resolve, underscores a pivotal inflection point: unmanned systems are redefining air combat, tilting toward quantity and stealth over the cult of the cockpit.
For the United States, this demands urgent investment in drone countermeasures to safeguard Indo-Pacific superiority. Failure to adapt risks a future where Beijing dictates the skies, but with proactive measures—from Replicator Swarms to EW dominance—America can reclaim the high ground.
As tensions simmer between Washington and Beijing, the Type B UASF isn’t just a drone; it’s a call to aerial arms against the US military and its regional allies.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, The Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: DVIDS.
