SinoDefence Forum

yehe

Chinas Unmanned air-combat craft, new in the Paris Air show
Info says its for air combat, are stealth and supersonic

goldenpanda

This planes was shown during Zhuhai 2006. The talk is, given China's preference for secrecy, this is one of the rejected designs. I like the idea of the delta body, though. The single engine, canards layout is similar to J10 so it could be easier to develop.

here's a shot of the bottom


I don't see much room for a weapons bay.

crobato

They already showed the Anjian (Dark Sword), last November in Zhuhai.

There is another similar design with the forward swept wings.

I agree about the idea of using the delta shaped body as a liftng body. Its an intriguing design.

Jon K

I wonder whether China will pursue J-XX design to the end. Without explicit political commitment for next generation manned fighter design, like the US, it might be easier to make a bypass directly into unmanned fighters.

Schumacher

I think gap in time from now to UAV being a viable option in terms of fighter roles is too large. PLAF cannot afford to wait for UAV & just let J-10 & J-11 to go against F-22 & F-35 during this gap, so J-xx is definitely needed. Unless of course PLAF has encountered major obstacles with J-xx & forced to the unconventional route of using current low tech UAV against USAF stealth thru numbers.

Vlad Plasmius

Who knows? Maybe it uses lasers. You never know what they could be working on in secret. Lasers would be a great weapon for a UCAV.

Jon K

Umm, actually its hard to see why developing an UCAV would be that different from developing a manned fighter. Both need similar weapons and sensors capability, which is by far the most expensive part of airplane development,FBW system etc. Where UCAV saves is the pilot integration to the machine. Due to weight and aerodynamical savings (which are fairly huge, due to cumulative effect of more weight needing more propulsion and more fuel) and elimination of canopy its much easier to make a stealthy UAV.

Of course the AI and comms system to operate the plane need to be developed, but considering that every element of pilot-aircraft interaction is already digitized, and planes need to be in datalink contact in order to act with maximum efficiency anyway, I wonder if its really that hard.

Mvh,
Jon K

big toothbrush

actually the most difficult part of developing unmanned system is about the supporting network but not the platform itself.

unknauthr

A brief article on China's 2007 Paris Air Show pavilion, which mentions two unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV's) on display in Paris:
http://www.chinanews.cn/technology/2...-18/36870.html

The Anjian (Dark Sword), was already mentioned above. The other airplane is being labeled as Tianyi III.

I found some additional photos for the Anjian at another web site:
http://english.people.com.cn/200705/...30_379205.html

If anyone can locate photos for the Tiany III please let us know.

Chinese Unmanned Fighter Jets on Display at Paris Air Show

Chinanews, Beijing, June 18 – The 47th Paris Air Show, the world’s largest air show, was kicked off in France today. China attends the one-week air exhibition with a whole set of domestically made aviation equipment. Among them are two unmanned fighter jets, Anjian and Tianyi III.

Anjian unmanned fighter jet, designed by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) Shenyang Research Institute, it is a supersonic aircraft that can fly with high mobility and work at low altitudes. It can be used for air battle in future, a person from AVIC I told the reporter.

Tianyi III unmanned fighter jet measures 8.9 meters in length, 3.44 meters in height and 2,350 kilograms in weight.

The China Aviation Industry Corporation I is one of the largest aircraft makers in China. It has successfully made many kinds of airplanes, including J10 Fighter Jet, MA60 branch airliner and ARJ21 branch airliner. This is the third time for AVIC I to attend the Paris Air Show. This time, AVIC I has brought a lot of its aviation products to the Paris Air Show. Apart from Anjian and Tianyi III, the other products made by AVIC I and exhibited at the show include Xiaolong aircraft, Plateau Eagle plane, Xinzhou 60 aircraft, some of the branch airliners recently made by AVIC I, the simulation system for Xiaolong cabin, ejection seat, protective clothing, etc.