Kondinin Group saw an X9 in the flesh at Agritechnica in Germany last November but the wraps were stuck fast on the harvester on display there.

The new X9 1000 and X9 1100 harvesters are powered by a 13.6 litre PowerTech PWS engine and boast rated powers of 409kW (549hp) and 459kW (603hp) respectively.

The current model S790 has a rated engine power of 405kW (543hp) and is a single rotor harvester. But the X9s have some serious grain processing power, including the X Series Dual Separator (XDS) where grain is threshed and separated during nine revolutions of the rotor.

The seven square metre Dyna-Flo XL cleaning shoe in the X9s has 36 per cent more cleaning area than the S790.

The X9 1000 has a grain tank capacity of 14,800 litres (unloading rated at 159L/sec) while the X9 1100 has a 16,200L grain tank and an unloading rate of 186L/sec. Unloading augers can be 7.9m, 8.7m or 9.5m in length.

John Deere claims the new harvesters are more fuel efficient, noting up to 20 per cent better diesel efficiency than the S700s, or about one litre of diesel per tonne of grain harvested. The harvesters are fitted with a 1250L fuel tank which John Deere claims will provide 14 hours of operation between refills.

Various levels of automation are also integrated into the harvesters which have several technology specification options.

John Deere tactical segment manager, Marko Koelln, said as conditions change, the X9 Harvester can make automatic adjustments for the operator, so that it consistently functions at peak levels.

"For example, in the morning, straw can be damp and make threshing and separating tough. Later in the day, moisture evaporates, and harvesting conditions improve. In the past, these changes required operators to adjust harvester settings to help the machine compensate - now the adjustments are made automatically," Koelln said.

The harvesters come with an integrated StarFire 6000 Receiver. JDLink is standard on both models and comes with five years of service. This enables machine-to-machine communication and makes it easy for the owner to share agronomic and machine-performance information.

With John Deere Connected Support, owners can get dealer service through Expert Alerts - an industry exclusive - plus remote support capabilities.

Three technology packages are available for the X Series including Select, Premium and Ultimate. Select includes the StarFire 6000 Integrated Receiver, Generation 4 4600 Display, Harvest Smart, Interactive Combine Adjustment and is Connect Mobile ready.

Premium specification builds on the Select package and includes Active Terrain Adjustment and the Premium 3.0 Activation with AutoTrac RowSense, Section Control and In-Field Data Sharing.

Everything in the Select and Premium packages is included in the Ultimate along with Automation 3.0 Activation with Generation 4 Machine Sync and the Combine Advisor Technology Package with ActiveVision Camera technology and Auto Maintain.

All X Series harvesters can connect to the John Deere Operations Centre, a cloud-based, central location where farmers can electronically share machine or operational information with trusted partners and advisors.

John Deere expects demonstration units on the ground in late 2021.