Washington: A leaked U.S. military assessment says the Chinese military may soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone that travels at least three times the speed of sound, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.

The newspaper cited a secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The document, which Reuters could not confirm or verify independently, features satellite imagery dated Aug 9 that shows two WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drones at an air base in eastern China, about 350 miles (560km) inland from Shanghai, according to the newspaper.

The U.S. assessment said China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had "almost certainly" established its first unmanned aerial vehicle unit at the base, which falls under the Eastern Theatre Command, the branch of the Chinese military responsible for enforcing Chinese sovereignty claims over Taiwan, the newspaper reported.

The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese government could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Washington Post said it obtained the assessment of the program from a trove of images of classified files posted on the Discord messaging app, allegedly by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who was arrested last week.

The FBI on Thursday arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.

The leaks first became widely known earlier this month, setting Washington on edge about the damage they may have caused. The episode embarrassed the U.S. by revealing its spying on allies and purported Ukrainian military vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, India started its long-endurance UAV development program in the early 2000s with a target for induction in 2016. However, the program suffered significant delays, resulting in the Tapas UAV's first flight taking place only in 2016.

It took another five years (until 2021) for the Tapas UAV to achieve an altitude of 28,000 feet. In July 2022, the government ordered HAL to manufacture six Tapas UAVs for evaluation trials.

It was only earlier this year, in February 2023, that the UAV was unveiled to the public at Aero India 2023.

India in the meantime as a stopgap uses Israeli Heron-TP drones for its long-range surveillance roles. India is also planning to buy eighteen MQ-9B Sea Guardians UCAV from the United States as well.

The assessment about the Chinese WZ-8 drone came from a collection of classified files, leaked on the Discord app, which were apparently posted by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who was arrested recently.