China’s massive Jiutian ‘mothership’ drone takes flight, reviving the airborne aircraft carrier concept
December 15, 2025
First unveiled in December 2024 as a mothership, China has now flown the large Jiutian (‘Nine Heavens’ or simply ‘High Sky’) drone, emphasizing the aircraft’s civil applications.
AVIC flies its large Jiutian ‘mothership’ drone
On 11th December, China’s state-run news site, Xinhua, reported “A large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), named ‘Jiutian,’ completed its maiden flight.” The flight took place in China’s Shaanxi Province.
The aircraft was seen taking off and flying over the airbase with its landing gear in a wheels-down position. Footage also showed it landing.
Xinhua described the drone just as a “domestically developed general-purpose drone…. designed for diverse civil missions.” While it may be capable of civil missions, it also seems the aircraft has been designed for military missions.
Jiutian is developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). The aircraft’s size is considerable, measuring 16.35 metres in length and 25 metres in wingspan.
It is described as having a max take off weight of 16 tonnes, a payload capacity of 6 tonnes, a ferry range of 7,000 kilometres, a cruising speed of 377 knots, and an endurance of 12 hours.
The „Jiutian“ drone mothership has completed its maiden flight. pic.twitter.com/lN0qMwZb1F
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 11, 2025
Emphasising that the large new drone is peaceful, Xinhua states its modular payload system enables it to transport heavy cargo to remote areas, engaging in disaster relief, geographic surveying, and more.
Get the latest aerospace defence news here on AGN.
Return of the 100-year-old flying aircraft carrier concept
In the 1920s, it was unclear if aircraft carriers should be ships or aircraft. The US Navy built two Akron-class airships (USS Akron and USS Macon) that carried five parasitic Curtiss F9C ‘Sparrowhawk biplanes. These airships were able to both launch and recover the aircraft.
One hundred years later, and drones of various shapes, sizes, and capabilities are in rapid development, and with them comes the idea of an airborne aircraft carrier mothership. In September, the US launched a Switchblade 600 drone from an MQ-9 Reaper.
This SS-UAV with Isomerism tech is gigantic! Soon, we might have drones as big as A320s.. pic.twitter.com/cAnDv8aAK2
— Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) June 24, 2025
Drone motherships have made an appearance in the drone war in Ukraine. A larger mother drone can carry smaller drones that would otherwise lack the range. These drones are orders of magnitude smaller than the Jiutian mother drone being developed by China.
Multi-roles for the Jiutian mothership
A previous rendering on Chinese state TV shows the aircraft launching a swarm of smaller drones. The rendering is reminiscent of the trucks Ukraine retrofitted to carry the FPV drones used in Operation Spiderweb to destroy perhaps 20% of Russia’s operational strategic bomber fleet.
According to reporting by The War Zone, AVIC has previously confirmed that the drone is intended for a drone swarm launch capability. Its design includes a compartmentalised internal bay in its fuselage belly that enables it to carry over 100 loitering munitions or small attack drones.
The War Zone wrote, “A key mission for the design is expected to be acting as a mothership for swarms of smaller uncrewed aerial systems.” China’s Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said the swarms could “overwhelm enemy air defences in future asymmetric warfare scenarios.”
For scale purpose
— Hûrin (@Hurin92) December 11, 2025
The mega uav at bottom is Jiutian pic.twitter.com/SA7FZ1m24p
Jiutian has also previously been depicted in official Chinese media armed with air-to-surface and air-to-air munitions.
China’s state-run China Daily website said its modular design “allows it to carry different kinds of mission payloads, including guided bombs, air-to-air missiles, cruise missiles and loitering munitions.”
Featured Image: Chinese State Media
