Video Shows Test of China's Suspected US Switchblade Drone Clone

China has tested a new type of loitering munition that appears to be a carbon copy of the U.S.-made Switchblade 300, which has seen wide use in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Footage released by Chinese defense contractor Beijing Angfei Technology one week ago showed the XS101 in action at an undisclosed mountainous location. The weapon, its wings folded at first, is launched from a tube and directed toward a stationary target.

The operators of the Chinese drone—a single-use weapon similar to the smaller Switchblade manufactured by Virginia-based AeroVironment—watched the device in flight via a real-time, high-resolution color feed, the video showed.

The test resulted in a successful strike on the target placed on a hilltop, which the contractor said was at 4,600 meters, or roughly 15,000 feet, above sea level.

China's defense planners, like others around the world, have taken a keen interest in the use of drones—unmanned aerial and surface vehicles made in the United States and elsewhere—in Ukraine's ongoing resistance against invading Russian forces.

AeroVironment's Switchblade 300, a so-called kamikaze drone, has been among the most widely used and observed. It fits into a backpack and can be launched by a single trained operator against light armored vehicles or personnel.

Angfei's XS101 is being developed alongside the FH-901 loitering munition—manufactured by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation—and highlights a significant strategic shift in the global defense industry as a result of the ongoing war in Europe.

It was unclear when either model was scheduled for mass production and wider use by the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

In a recent article in The Diplomat magazine, think tank analysts Lyle Goldstein of Defense Priorities and Nathan Waechter at the Rand Corp. said Chinese strategists were developing ways to incorporate kamikaze drones into Beijing's warfighting approach.

"Loitering munitions are thus seen by Chinese strategists as being 'highly cost-effective' in this conflict of attrition," Goldstein and Waechter said.

"Chinese strategists are watching drone and loitering munition use closely in the Ukraine war, suggesting that they are likely already considering how to refine offensive tactics and improve defensive countermeasures," they said.

The XS101 took six years to develop, according to the Beijing Military Civilian Integration Collaborative and Innovative Association, a government-linked institution that promotes civil-military fusion.

"As a high-tech enterprise dedicated to the research and development of light and small cruise vehicle technology and components, [Angfei] took six years to build the XS101 lightweight cruise missile quasi-system, which consists of a cruising platform, flight control, seeker and broadband self-organizing network," the association said.

Dylan Malyasov, editor of Defence Blog, wrote on November 27, the day the test footage was released: "The autonomous capabilities of the XS101 are notable, allowing it to navigate towards a designated area or target without constant human intervention."

Malyasov also noted resemblances between the XS101 and the Switchblade 300, at least in appearance.

It was not the first time a Chinese defense company had displayed a loitering munition under development. Last year, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported on the FH-901, which was already likened to the U.S.-made Switchblade.

"Observers called the FH-901 a Chinese equivalent to the U.S.-developed Switchblade suicide drone. The Switchblade earned its recent fame in the Ukraine crisis," the paper said.

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