Wing Loong II (MALE)

The Wing Loong II (翼龙-II) is China's primary export-oriented MALE drone, developed by AVIC's Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute and first flown in 2017. Superficially resembling the American MQ-9 Reaper in configuration — high-mounted pusher propeller, inverted-V tail, sensor turret under the nose — the Wing Loong II represents China's mature answer to the US monopoly on MALE drone exports. It carries up to 480 kg of ordnance including the BA-7 anti-radiation missile, AR-2 laser-guided bomb, AKD-10 anti-tank missile, and LS-6 glide bomb, with a flight endurance of approximately 20 hours.

The Wing Loong II has been exported to UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria. The UAE operated it extensively in Libya in support of Haftar's LNA forces between 2019–2020, and Saudi Arabia has used it in Yemen. Sudan's civil war has seen both sides attempt to employ Chinese-supplied drones, and the proliferation of Wing Loong variants across authoritarian and semi-authoritarian states has drawn significant Western criticism regarding Chinese arms export controls.