Role & capabilities
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- CASC — China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics
- Origin / production countries
- China
- Other names
- Caihong-7; Rainbow-7; CH 7
- Variants / configurations
- CH-7 flight-test configuration announced December 2025
- Operators / programme customers
- CASC development and flight-test programme
Evidence & current status
The developer confirms a first flight. Older exhibition targets are not treated as achieved performance of the flown configuration.
CH-7 is CASC's high-altitude, long-endurance flying-wing aircraft development. CASC announced a successful first flight on 17 December 2025, referring to an aircraft that had previously appeared at Airshow China 2024. The announcement describes a high-aspect-ratio flying-wing layout and visible-light and infrared mission-payload options for observation and information collection.
The same release says that further flight-envelope and payload-function testing will follow. This makes first flight a clear development milestone, not a declaration of operational service. Earlier exhibition descriptions and projected completion dates should be kept as programme history rather than used to imply that a production fleet already exists.
Publicly circulated size, mass and endurance figures have varied across the programme's exhibition history. The recent first-flight statement does not establish a complete final performance baseline, so this profile does not combine those older values into a specification for the flown aircraft. The next meaningful updates are demonstrated flight performance, payload testing and any customer acceptance or production decision. It remains a distinct programme from CH-5 and other Rainbow-family aircraft.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | High-aspect-ratio flying wing | Description of the configuration in the first-flight announcement. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Range | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Visible-light and infrared mission-payload options | Options described by developer; payload-function testing was still planned. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
Documented milestones
First flight announced
CASC reported first flight and described further flight-envelope and payload testing as forthcoming.
Read the announcement ↗
Publication history
- — Added a sourced global catalogue profile with configuration-specific data and explicit evidence limits.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.