JD.com, China’s largest online retailer, says it has trialled the use of a delivery drone capable of carrying a ton of cargo to rural Chinese customers and potentially pipping Amazon to the post.

JD.com has set up a drone airbase in the Shaanxi province of central China and will use the massive drones to deliver goods over a 300-mile radius.

The company has already employed drones to make thousands of deliveries in China, where regulators haven’t been as obstructive as in the USA. It recently announced plans to build 150 drone stations in south-western Sichuan province alone.