The Divine Eagle

[Hyperion]

Janes

Images emerge of new Chinese twin-fuselage HALE UAV concept - IHS Jane's 360

 

[Deino]

Just found at the SDF and CDF posted by "Blitzo":

Posted by flateric over on secretprojects forum....

临近空间长航时侦察打击一体化无人机-百度文库

Aim of mach 0.80 at 25km altitude, 24 hour endurance at 5000km mission distance? Sounds about right for a UAV of this mission and type...

... mission profile goes from pretty old 2008 paper
"Near space, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance combat Integration"
Li Jun, Huang Haifeng, Mu Xia, Liqing Peng (School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072)
“时空要塞”长航时侦察打击一体化无人机_新浪军事_新浪网
临近空间长航时侦察打击一体化无人机_word文档在线阅读与下载_文档网

strictly speaking, paper is not on Divine Eagle per se, but may be on concept that laid in its roots

So some of the original specs were:

55m wingspan, 28.5m length, 7m height
27 ton TOW, 10.9 ton empty weight
24 hour standby time at 5000km radius
Cruise speed of mach 0.85, standby speed of mach 0.78
1.2km take off distance and 1km landing distance
also, twin engined...

The concept was also meant to have a strike capability... and possibly modified for unmanned bomber and unmanned tanker roles.

I'll be very interested to see the overall dimensions of the actual Divine Eagle and a view of the engine or engines to see how much they may have compromised from the original concept. Clearly they've ditched some of the original stealth requirements for a slightly more conventional but still very unorthodox aerodynamic arrangement.

The way they describe the use of two or three such UAVs operating in concert as seamless surveillance against opposing CSGs is very much how I imagined such a UAV would work.

Deino

 

[cirr]

 

[cirr]

Schematic of top view

It also exhibits the layout of China's next generation manned AWACS，i.e. the use of conformal AESA radar。

 

[cirr]

We can do with a front view of the Devine Eagle.

 

[cirr]

A Closer Look At China's Divine Eagle Drone | Popular Science

 

[cirr]

 

[cirr]

 

[Akasa]

Looks like an interesting twin-boom layout, slightly reminiscent of the venerable P-38 Lightning. However, I'm interested in why the engineers decided to forgo a box-wing configuration à la Soar Dragon.

 

[星海军事]

The second Divine Eagle UAWAC demonstrator is undergoing taxiing tests.

 

[Deino]

The second Divine Eagle UAWAC demonstrator is undergoing taxiing tests.

That's interesting !! Even before the first one ever flew ?

 

[星海军事]

That's interesting !! Even before the first one ever flew ?

Nope. The first one made its maiden flight last year.

 

[Deino]

Nope. The first one made its maiden flight last year.

Really ??? It has been rumoured quite often but I think that beast s simply too huge to hide it flying !

It would be nice if true indeed .... any confirmation?

Deino

 

[星海军事]

Really ??? It has been rumoured quite often but I think that beast s simply too huge to hide it flying !

It would be nice if true indeed .... any confirmation?

Deino

Anshun is a remote place. Every UAV went there disappeared in silence.

 

[Deino]

Anshun is a remote place. Every UAV went there disappeared in silence.

Indeed .. but wasn't the first prototype spotted at Shenyang ? ... as such was the maiden flight done at night, in secret so no-one noticed it (or at least wasn't able to take pictures) or was it transported to Anshun by an Il-76MD for example?