According to state broadcaster CCTV, the test flight of the Sharp Sword unmanned aircraft lasted 20 minutes in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Thursday.

The flight “implies that China has made the leap from drones to combat drones,” the broadcaster said, describing it the move of “major significance.”

China Daily also said the flight shows “the nation has again narrowed the air-power disparity between itself and Western nations.”

The daily added that the flight made Beijing the “fourth power… capable of putting a stealth drone into the sky.”

The aircraft has been produced by two subsidiaries of Aviation Industry Corp of China, the daily said.

China reached a milestone claimed by few countries – the United States, Russia and France – via manufacturing the heavy combat drone, according to Hong Kong-based military expert Andrei Chang.

China’s first stealth fighter, the J-20, was unveiled in 2011, but it is not expected to go into service until 2018. The country’s first aircraft carrier entered service in September 2012.

The test flight comes after Japan said in September that an unidentified unmanned aircraft had flown near the disputed islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing.

China and Japan have long been engaged in a dispute over the sovereignty of the uninhabited islands.

China maintains that the islands are an inherent part of its territory and it has indisputable sovereignty over them. The Japanese government, on the other hand, regards the islands as a part of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture.