Chinese UAV News & Discussions (Strictly)

[krash]

Guys why is it standing on a bunch of blue boxes???? Where is the gear?

 

[Martian2]

Clearest Soar Dragon picture to date

[Note: Thank you to Marchpole for the picture.]

 

[qwerrty]

Innovative New Chinese UAV Emerges

Jul 1, 2011

By David A. Fulghum, Bill Sweetman

The latest unmanned aircraft pictures from China show a reconnaissance truck with a joined wing and tail that could considerably increase range and payload and produce better handling at high altitudes.

U.S. analysts already are suggesting that the new Chinese UAV design — with its 60,000-ft. cruising altitude, 300-mi. radar surveillance range and low radar reflectivity if it uses the right composite structure — could serve as the targeting node for China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles. The ASBM threat against carriers finally has U.S. Navy officials worried.

Photographs emerging from Chinese Internet sources, depicting the aircraft on what is likely Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s (CAC) ramp, show a new design featuring a novel joined-wing layout. In the same size class as the General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Inc. Avenger, and powered by a single turbofan engine, the new UAV is the most advanced Chinese design seen to date and the largest joined-wing aircraft known to have been built.

The company also makes the J-10 strike fighter, the J-20 stealth fighter prototype and a Global Hawk-like maritime reconnaissance UAV called the Xianglong, or Soaring Dragon, which flew in December 2009. CAC officials say it has a wingspan of 75 ft., length of 45 ft. and a cruise altitude of 55,000-to-60,000 ft. Chinese sources credited it with a 7,500-kg (16,500-lb.) takeoff weight and 3,800 nm range. The forebody is bulged to accommodate a high-data-rate satcom antenna.

Joined wings — a subset of closed-wing systems — comprise a sweptback forward wing and a forward-swept aft wing.

In the new Chinese UAV (as in many such configurations) the rear wing is higher than the forward wing to reduce the effect of the forward wing’s downwash on the rear wing’s lifting qualities. The rear wing has a shorter span than the front wing and its downturned tips meet the front wing at a part-span point.

Advocates of the joined wing claim that its advantages stem from the fact that the front and rear wings are structurally cross-braced.

This allows a higher aspect ratio while keeping down weight and staying within flutter limits. A higher aspect ratio reduces drag due to lift, and because the wings are both slender and short-span (relative to a single wing with equivalent lift) the wing chords are short, which makes it easier to achieve laminar flow. The joined wing also can reduce trim drag.

Studies of joined wings go back to the earliest years of aviation, but modern work is traceable to Julian Wolkovitch, a California aerodynamicist.

Wolkovitch worked with Burt Rutan on an early design study, the Model 58 Predator agricultural airplane, and drew up plans to develop a flight demonstrator based on the fuselage of the Ames-Dryden AD-1 skewed-wing aircraft. However, the project was still unfunded when Wolkovitch died in 1991. (Rutan went on to build a different Predator design.)

More recently, Boeing used a joined-wing configuration in its contribution to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) SensorCraft project, aimed at developing an aircraft capable of carrying an airframe-integrated, 360-deg.-coverage, high-resolution radar and remaining on station for 30 hr. at 2,000 nm range.

A small, low-speed free-flight model known as VA-1, with a 14-ft. wingspan, was completed by AFRL in 2003 and test flown.

A model of Boeing’s Joined Wing SensorCraft was tested last year in NASA Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel under the Air Force’s Aerodynamic Efficiency Improvement program.

*ttp://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/asd/2011/07/01/02.xml&headline=Innovative%20New%20Chinese%20UAV%20Emerges

..........

 

[S10]

Guys why is it standing on a bunch of blue boxes???? Where is the gear?

They're probably installing some sensitive equipment under its belly.

 

[Akasa]

The original Xiang Long design has been changed to what you see today. Xiang Long never made it to service, and this is its first test flight since the change. Therefore there is no basic/improved version so to speak, because this is the prototype. In addition, this design can carry armament.

StrategyCenter suggested that China may be developing (or has developed) a delta wing jet powered UCAV capable of carrying the BA-7 anti tank missile. It apparently would be the world's first CAS (close air support) UCAV. (Photo here)

China also revealed a model of an UCAV (similar in shape to the WZ-2000) that carries TY-90 missiles and an unknown antitank missile. (Photo here)

These also might be the PLAAF's future jet powered UCAV program, in the league of the General Atomics Avenger.



I did not include the Combat Eagle heavy stealth UCAV because that is a heavy UCAV.

 

[Akasa]

..........

I thought the DF-21D was guided by the Chinese military guidance satellites. The Soar Dragon when in its URAV mode would most likely serve as a reconnaissance platform or as a guidance aid to anti ship and cruise missiles.

 

[Dragon Emperor]

I thought the DF-21D was guided by the Chinese military guidance satellites. The Soar Dragon when in its URAV mode would most likely serve as a reconnaissance platform or as a guidance aid to anti ship and cruise missiles.

Not enough military guidance satelites. In war situation, US will use many ASAT weapons against Chinese sats so China should have minimum 100 of those guidance sats. It will cost a lot, but increasing defence budget to more than 200billion USD per year and it is easy to do.

 

[Akasa]

Not enough military guidance satelites. In war situation, US will use many ASAT weapons against Chinese sats so China should have minimum 100 of those guidance sats. It will cost a lot, but increasing defence budget to more than 200billion USD per year and it is easy to do.

Makes sense, assuming that these UAVs are able to operate in a safe manner without being detected by enemy forces. However, I do believe that smaller UAVs like the WJ-600 would come in effective and cheap, therefore abundant.

 

[houshanghai]

pterodacty UAV

 

[no_name]

^^^ I'm not really a fan of its undercarriage design, reminds me of a baby cart.

 

[Martian2]

China's Pterodactyl UAV

China's Pterodactyl UAV carries HJ-10 anti-helicopter/anti-tank missiles with 10+ km range

"The Pterodactyl is capable of being fitted with a variety of sensors, including a forward-looking infrared turret and synthetic aperture radar;[2] in addition, the aircraft is capable of carrying weapons.[4] The Pterodactyl I's total payload capacity for sensors and weapons is 200 kilograms (440 lb).[2]"

[Note: Thank you to HouShanghai for the pictures.]

 

[houshanghai]

China develops military drones for Pakistan
Posted on 07 July 2011 by admin
2011-07-07 (China Military News cited from indiatimes.com) -- China has ramped up its research in drone technology and is in the process of building armed, jet-propelled unmanned planes, which it plans to sell to countries like Pakistan.
Though much of this work remains secret, the large number of drones at recent exhibitions underlines not only China's determination to catch up in that sector -- by building equivalents to the leading US combat and surveillance models, the Predator and the Global Hawk -- but also that its desire to sell this technology abroad, a media report has said.

Chinese ASN-215 UAV System
"No country has ramped up its research in recent years faster than China. It displayed a drone model for the first time at the Zhuhai air show five years ago, but now every major manufacturer for the Chinese military has a research center devoted to drones," the Washington Post daily recently said quoting Chinese analysts.
Not only the Chinese are trying to make state of the art armed drones, they are also eyeing the international market.
"The United States doesn't export many attack drones, so we're taking advantage of that hole in the market," said Zhang Qiaoliang , a representative of the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, which manufactures many of the most advanced military aircraft for the People's Liberation Army.
"The main reason is the amazing demand in the market for drones after 9/11."
According to the daily, Pakistan has said it plans to obtain armed drones from China, which has already sold the nation one for surveillance.
As per Aviation Industry Corp of China, it has begun offering international customers a combat and surveillance drone comparable to the Predator called the Yilong, or "pterodactyl" in English.
Zhang, of the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, said the company anticipates sales in Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa.
However, he and others displaying drones at a recent Beijing anti-terrorism convention played down the threat of increasing Chinese drone technology, the daily said.

"I don't think China's drone technology has reached the world's first-class level," said Wu Zilei, from the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, echoing an almost constant refrain.
"The reconnaissance drones are okay, but the attack drones are still years behind the United States".
However, the daily quoted Richard Fisher , a senior fellow at the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center, who said such statements are routine and intended to deflect concern about the nation's expanding military ambitions.
"The Chinese are catching up quickly. This is something we know for sure," Fisher said. "We should not take comfort in some perceived lags in sensors or satellites capabilities. Those are just a matter of time."

 

[Akasa]

^^^ I'm not really a fan of its undercarriage design, reminds me of a baby cart.

That means greater versatility. An undercarriage can be installed on virtually any UAV, meaning that the WZ-2000 and Soar Dragon UAV can be easily converted to UCAVs by addition of an undercarriage. Models of specific undercarriages for UAVs have been shown at the Zhuhai Airshows.

 

[houshanghai]

BZK006 mid-range reconnaissance UAV new pics

BZK006 UAV in chinese parade 2009

 

[houshanghai]

China's Pterodactyl UAV

China's Pterodactyl UAV carries HJ-10 anti-helicopter/anti-tank missiles with 10+ km range

"The Pterodactyl is capable of being fitted with a variety of sensors, including a forward-looking infrared turret and synthetic aperture radar;[2] in addition, the aircraft is capable of carrying weapons.[4] The Pterodactyl I's total payload capacity for sensors and weapons is 200 kilograms (440 lb).[2]"

[Note: Thank you to HouShanghai for the pictures.]

sorry my err.......

this pic is guizhou aircraft institute's Pterodactyl UAV

the bird is CAC's Pterodactyl UAV.
There is 2 different Pterodactyl UAV between CAC and GAC.