"Jiutian" Heavy UAV Completes Maiden Flight: A Breakthrough in China’s Large UAV Technology for Low-Altitude Economy
December 16, 2025
On December 11th, the "Jiutian" UAV successfully completed its maiden flight in Pucheng, Shaanxi Province. Commissioned by Shaanxi UAV Equipment Technology Co., Ltd., designed by AVIC First Aircraft Institute, and manufactured by Xi’an Chida, a subsidiary of Haige Communication, this domestically innovated large general-purpose UAV platform adopts the "general platform + modular mission payload" design concept.
Benefiting from independent integrated technology innovation, the Jiutian UAV features core advantages including large load capacity, high ceiling, wide speed range, and short take-off and landing. Its leading performance indicators among peer products are as follows: 16.35 meters in length, 25 meters in wingspan, 16 tons of maximum take-off weight, 6,000 kg of payload capacity, 12 hours of flight duration, and 7,000 km of ferry range. Through modular payload replacement, it is widely adaptable to diverse scenarios: undertaking heavy material transportation and precision logistics delivery in remote mountainous areas and islands; restoring communication and delivering rescue equipment rapidly in emergency relief; providing services like geographic mapping, disaster assessment, and mineral survey; and covering national economic fields including cultural relics exploration, maritime patrol law enforcement, and forest fire suppression.
The successful maiden flight marks a new breakthrough in China’s large UAV technology. Its large-scale application will accelerate the collaborative integration of industrial and innovation chains, inject new productive forces into the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy, and boost the innovation and upgrading of the aviation industry. Hailed as the next-generation new large UAV and the "unmanned aerial mothership", the Jiutian UAV effectively fills the gap in China’s civil-military dual-use heavy UAV market. It demonstrates Xi’an Chida’s advanced full-chain UAV manufacturing capabilities, further strengthening Haige Communication’s core technical strengths in the aerospace and unmanned systems sectors.
Xi’an Chida has the production capacity of heavy, large UAVs and general aviation small aircraft. UAV R&D and manufacturing is a high-potential new business developed by the company in recent years. The flexible deployment and mass production of the Jiutian heavy UAV signify that Xi’an Chida has established a full-chain UAV manufacturing system covering process design, parts processing, component assembly, complete machine assembly, and commissioning.
