Strange missile !! ... who can identify ?

Just got a reply from "i.e." from the Key-Forum ...

reportedly the ChangKong-2 supersonic recce UAV !

No, that's the Wu Zhen 5 (WZ-5) UAV, also known as Chang Hong 1 (export name) UAV.
Its a reverse engineered US AQM-34N Ryan Firebee.





Ryan Firebee
"The Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones or unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and one of the most widely-used target drones ever built."

WZ-5 UAV
The Peoples Republic of China is known to have recovered US AQM-34N Firebee units during the Vietnam War era, and reverse engineered it. The Chinese version is known as Wu Zhen 5 (WZ-5), or Chang Hong 1 (export name). [1] The WZ-5 entered service in 1981 and is expected to be replaced by newer UAVs in the near future.

Ryan Firebee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



It was widely used in Vietnam war, I think China recovered more than dozens of them according to some magazine articles I read, and was able to reverse engineered from it.

Its mostly used as target drone, and its not "smart" as the definition of "UAV" would imply in modern usage.

????

This thing above is surely not a WZ-5 ??? ... I really don't understand Your post ??

Deino

Originally Posted by Deino

????

This thing above is surely not a WZ-5 ??? ... I really don't understand Your post ??

Deino

The picture above is Ryan Firebee - from which WZ-5/Chang Hong 1 was developed from.

Let me put it side by side for you :

WZ-5/Chang Hong 1


Ryan Firebee



Its the same design. I think because the air-intake is obscure from the view that's why it looks a little bit dissimilar.

No ... just as You sayI agree there are some similarities and indeed the intake is a bit obscured, but IMO theses are two completely different designs, the "strange" one I posted very much more like a supersonic design with a scram-jet-like intake, a different tail and tiny wings (or canards ??).

Deino

From Designation Systems : Teledyne Ryan Q-2/KDA/xQM-34/BGM-34 Firebee

I have strong doubts its the one Asymptote posted (BQM-34A), but it could be a development of the BQM-34E/F/T Firebee II. PRC got there hands on some. I vaguely remember an H-6 carrying those drones.

Here is the WZ-5

Y-8E Cub
WZ-5

That thing Deino posted doesn't look like a WZ-5 (or at least not until we have a clearer image)

Originally Posted by Deino

No ... just as You sayI agree there are some similarities and indeed the intake is a bit obscured, but IMO theses are two completely different designs, the "strange" one I posted very much more like a supersonic design with a scram-jet-like intake, a different tail and tiny wings (or canards ??).

Deino

"Scram-jet-like intake"... are you implying this is like the american X-51?! VERY FUNNY HAHA!!


Boeing X-51



NO. that's not a scram-jet intake. I can assure you that's just your normal jet intake.
One thing that's certain, the picture shows the UAV is put alongside Chengdu J-7 for god's sake!! It's sitting in a museum (where they put the old things...?!) somewhere in China! The museum even looks old and dusty like the J-7 it is displaying! I seriously doubt China had scram-jet technology when they made the J-7. LOL. Its put there alongside J-7 for a reason - because it was developed around the same period. The red letter words that says on the UAV even says "ChangKong-02" (its export name).

So it is WZ-5. Ask around. I am pretty sure someone here from China can even identify which museum this is from, and they can probably even go there and take a photo of the description from the display!

I'll go back to Sinodefence itself :

ChangKong-1 (Lavochkin La-17)
WuZhen-5 (also known as ChangHong-1) (AQM-34N Firebee)

ChangKong-2 supersonic target drone was derived from the ChangKong-1

Sooooo, which is which?

Originally Posted by Hyperwarp

I'll go back to Sinodefence itself :

ChangKong-1 (Lavochkin La-17)
WuZhen-5 (also known as ChangHong-1) (AQM-34N Firebee)

ChangKong-2 supersonic target drone was derived from the ChangKong-1

Sooooo, which is which?

I am pretty certain the red letters that's printed on the photo reads "Kong Chang" (meaning "tall and long") - maybe its the wrong way I am reading or maybe its just the way Chinese name get reversed like the given name and surname... So it could be the ChangKong-2 like you pointed out.

BTW, I search ChangKong-2 and I get nothing in any type of image search (and reverse image search). So it might not even be a UAV. Maybe we are all wrong. It looks too small to be WZ-5/ChangKong series of UAV. It might just be some type of gliding bomb that's launched from J-7.

LOL, but yeh, "someone" needs to goto China and verify this for us... I volunteer Deino!!

Originally Posted by Asymptote

"Scram-jet-like intake"... are you implying this is like the american X-51?! VERY FUNNY HAHA!!

Maybe You go back a bit and read again instead of making jokes !

I only said it "looks like" and as such not "it is".

Following again sinodefence:

ChangKong-2

The ChangKong-2 supersonic target drone was derived from the ChangKong-1. The CK-2 programme began in the early 1990s in response to the PLAAF’s requirement for a supersonic target drone to test its new generation air-to-air missile. No detailed information on the CK-2 is available, but it is understood that the drone first flew in the early 1990s, and its first successful supersonic flight took place in early 1995. The drone features a digital flight control, which was seen as a major breakthrough in China's UAV technology.

So I tend to say that might fit .. at least for a supersonic design.

It's an UAV

Originally Posted by SinoSoldier

It's an UAV

Looks a bit chubby to be a UAV, no? But what do I know

This is a ChangKong 2. It says so on the nose of the plane.