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WDS 2026: China Unveils Loong M9 Long-Range Loitering Munition With 1,600 km Strike Range.
China’s LoongUAV unveiled its new Loong M9 heavy loitering munition at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh from 8 to 12 February, marking the first public appearance of a Chinese system in this weight and range category. With a reported 50 kg payload, up to nine hours of endurance, and a strike range exceeding 1,600 km, the system signals Beijing’s push into long-range one-way attack drone exports with strategic implications for U.S. regional force posture and partner air defenses.
At World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh, China’s LoongUAV publicly introduced the Loong M9, a heavy loitering munition designed for long-range strike missions. The M9 carries a 50-kilogram warhead, offers eight to nine hours of endurance, and has a nominal strike range between 1,600 and 1,620 kilometers. That combination places it in a higher weight and reach category than many previously exported Chinese loitering drones, positioning it as a strategic-level precision attack system aimed at overseas defense markets. The unveiling underscores China’s expanding portfolio of long-endurance unmanned strike platforms at a time of intensifying global demand for cost-effective deep strike capabilities.
China’s LoongUAV unveiled the Loong M9 at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh, introducing a heavy long-range loitering munition with a 50 kg payload, up to nine hours of endurance, and an advertised strike range exceeding 1,600 kilometers (Picture Source: Army Recognition Group)
World Defense Show, founded by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries, has quickly become one of the main global defense exhibitions. The 2026 edition, the third since the event’s launch, is organized at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Centre in Malham under royal patronage and focuses on integration across air, land, sea, space and security domains. Bringing together industry, armed forces and government delegations from around the world, the show is used by Riyadh as a platform to attract industrial partnerships and showcase the kingdom’s ambition to position itself as a hub for defense technology and joint ventures.
LoongUAV, the manufacturer of the M9, presents itself as a specialist in tactical unmanned systems, offering a complete chain of products from airframes and propulsion to mission equipment, AI algorithms and training. Company information and open sources describe a portfolio that spans reconnaissance drones, attack UAVs, FPV loitering munitions and associated ground control systems, data links and targeting payloads. The M9 is positioned within this family as the largest one-way attack platform, roughly comparable in concept to Iran’s Shahed-136 and its derivatives, and intended for both domestic use and export.
The Loong M9 is described as a heavy-payload, long-endurance oil-fueled delta-wing UAV launched by a rocket-assisted catapult. The airframe, manufactured using integrated carbon-fiber molding, is designed to withstand light rain and harsh environments while keeping structural weight low. The drone has a length of around 3.5 m and a wingspan of 2.5 m, with an empty weight of about 62.5 kg and a maximum take-off weight of 200 kg. A 108-liter fuel tank feeds a 550 cc fuel-injected engine driving a rear propeller, giving the aircraft the endurance required for deep-strike missions. Manufacturer data indicate a stall speed of about 40 m/s, a cruise speed around 53 m/s (roughly 190 km/h) and a maximum speed of 62 m/s, close to the 223 km/h cruising value shown on the World Defense Show placard. With eight to nine hours of endurance, a ceiling of around 4,500 m and a quoted maximum range of 1,600–1,620 km, the M9 falls into the category of long-range loitering munitions able to operate far beyond the tactical frontline.
Guidance and survivability features are at the core of the system’s concept. LoongUAV states that the drone supports long-range target strikes with autonomous decision-making and is able to operate in environments where satellite navigation is degraded or denied. The platform can reportedly fly without reliance on GNSS, using autonomous navigation and on-board target recognition to execute its mission. A broadband frequency-hopping data link and multi-band satellite-positioning architecture are intended to improve resilience to jamming. Launch is assisted by a solid-fuel booster delivering a short burst of thrust to accelerate the airframe off the rail. For the terminal phase, the M9 can employ fixed-coordinate guidance or a seeker-based attack using dual visible-light sensors to recognize and home on characteristic targets, with a claimed circular error probable (CEP) on the order of 10 m.
LoongUAV presents the M9 as a multi-role platform for tactical reconnaissance, long-range strike and target-drone missions, but the emphasis at World Defense Show has been on its role as a heavy kamikaze drone. The 50 kg payload bay can accommodate various warhead types, allowing the system to be configured against infrastructure, fixed command posts or air-defense assets. Company material highlights application scenarios such as anti-radiation strikes, in which the drone approaches and engages emitting radars from stand-off distance. Exhibition panels underline “high payload, long endurance and high precision” as key attributes, with the ability to autonomously select and strike pre-trained target types once in the vicinity of the objective.
Beyond its technical characteristics, the M9 has clear strategic and geostrategic implications. With a range that potentially allows strikes several hundred kilometers beyond national borders and a relatively compact logistics footprint, such a system can offer medium powers a form of deep-strike capability previously reserved for states operating cruise missiles or large combat aircraft fleets. Its conceptual similarity to Shahed-type drones used in large numbers in recent conflicts suggests that a widespread diffusion of comparable systems could complicate regional air-defense planning, particularly for states relying on point-defense assets and limited numbers of high-end interceptors. For countries in the Middle East and other regions attending World Defense Show, the appearance of the M9 illustrates how loitering munitions are becoming a tool of strategic signaling and deterrence as much as a battlefield asset, offering both an option for massed attacks on critical infrastructure and a challenge that will require new layers of detection, electronic warfare and interception.
The debut of the Loong M9 at World Defense Show 2026 therefore highlights two converging dynamics: the rapid maturation of long-range loitering munitions as an affordable deep-strike option, and the role of Riyadh’s exhibition as a marketplace for this new generation of unmanned weapons. For LoongUAV, the M9 is an opportunity to position itself as a supplier of heavy kamikaze drones to international customers. For potential operators and their neighbors, the system’s combination of range, payload and autonomy will feed ongoing debates about the balance between offense and defense, the protection of critical infrastructure and the need to develop integrated air- and missile-defense architectures capable of countering massed, low-cost unmanned threats.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.