{"id":279494,"date":"2026-02-04T01:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279494\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:49:12","slug":"china-unveils-plans-for-vast-650-metre-spaceship-to-carry-armada-of-high-tech-stealth-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279494\/","title":{"rendered":"China unveils plans for vast 650-metre SPACESHIP to carry armada of high-tech stealth drones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China has revealed plans for a 684 metre-wide space craft capable of carrying dozes of fighter jets.<\/p>\n<p>The vessel, named Luanniao, would span approximately 2,244 feet and have a projected takeoff weight of 120,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing&#8217;s plans call for the space craft to carry 88 unmanned Xuan Nu fighter jets, according to local media.<\/p>\n<p>The jets are understood to be highly agile, stealth aircraft capable of launching hypersonic missile systems.<\/p>\n<p>It is thought the Luanniao could be operational within the next two to three decades.<\/p>\n<p>The space craft forms part of China&#8217;s wider Nantianmen Project, which aims to develop a more integrated air-space system. <\/p>\n<p>If the vessel was to be successfully constructed, it would &#8220;outclass pretty much everyone&#8221; according to defence expert and visiting fellow at Australia\u2019s Griffith Asia Institute, Peter Layton.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Layton said the Luanniao would be able to fly over other missiles and aircraft.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"ad8b9\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"33d41e8f1297eb4c133049b798478686\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201504%20806'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/luanniao.png\" width=\"1504\" height=\"806\" alt=\"Luanniao\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Experts say the space craft would &#8216;outclass pretty much everyone&#8217; if it was to be built <\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p>YOUTUBE <\/p>\n<p>He told The Telegraph: &#8220;You\u2019re also out of range of the weather, generally speaking \u2013 and you\u2019re out of range of most defensive systems.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the bold vision, considerable scepticism surrounds the project&#8217;s viability. <\/p>\n<p>Mr Layton believes the announcement may primarily serve for China to demonstrate to other nations that it was a leading military power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the external audience, it does paint the picture that they are working on technology that the region just can\u2019t aspire to \u2013 it\u2019s literally Star Wars stuff,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"cce23\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"78b4efd5018c2ef38d2564ab3b049183\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201024%20683'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/president-xi.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"President Xi\"\/><\/p>\n<p>One expert said the announcement may serve for China to demonstrate to other nations that it was a leading military power<\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p>GETTY<\/p>\n<p>He suggested China is about 10 to 15 years behind Elon Musk and his SpaceX rockets.<\/p>\n<p>Set up in 2002, SpaceX disrupted the global space industry with its reusable Falcon rockets, which proved vital to the swift launch of Starlink, a satellite broadband network now consisting of thousands of satellites in space.<\/p>\n<p>The aerospace company, founded by Mr Musk, holds billions of dollars in federal contracts with Nasa, the US Department of Defence and intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The billionaire said SpaceX has acquired his artificial-intelligence startup xAI, in a record-setting deal that unifies his AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China has revealed plans for a 684 metre-wide space craft capable of carrying dozes of fighter jets. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,43,82,247,268],"class_list":["post-279494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science","tag-space","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}