U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Confirms China's Spaceplane

The Defense Intelligence Agency has publicly identified a long-circulating satellite image as showing an experimental Chinese reusable spaceplane in orbit. Captured by Maxar, now Vantor, the newly released higher-resolution image depicts a small shuttle-like craft with wings, twin tails, an open payload bay, and deployed solar panels. Its overall layout closely resembles the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B, though the Chinese vehicle’s wings appear to have longer chords. China’s craft has flown at least four orbital missions since 2020; its latest launched in February 2026 and remains in orbit. During a 2023-24 mission, it released several unidentified objects, and it may have released another during the current flight. A remote northwestern Chinese airbase with a very long runway is believed to be its landing site.

The DIA names two Chinese spaceplane programs, Shenlong and Tengyun, but does not say which is pictured. Shenlong is commonly associated with the vehicle flown so far; Tengyun was proposed as part of an air-launched, two-stage-to-orbit system, though its test status is unclear. China is also pursuing other spaceplane designs, including Haolong, intended as a possible cargo vehicle for its Tiangong station. Reusable spaceplanes can deploy or retrieve payloads, support experiments and intelligence missions, and maneuver near other spacecraft more freely than conventional satellites. Those capabilities could also enable hostile actions in orbit, making the craft significant both as a technology program and as part of intensifying competition among space powers.