AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Wing Loong II model display.
Chinese UAV/UCAV development
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SinoSoldier
Colonel
Send them to Iraq now!
Impressive weapons-load.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Probably would do more good in Syria.
And if You compare the side profile on the official data sheet for the Wing Loong II to the so far unknown UAV posted in March, I would say even if the lower tail fin is missing, it is already flying !
What I'm still most curious about is Wing Loong II's external stores capacity...
It has an MTOW of 4.2 tons, which is somewhat lower than MQ-9's 4.8 tons but is still roughly in the same class (heavier than Wing Loong I and MQ-1 at least). However, MQ-9 also has an external stores capacity of 1.4 tons, which is about 29% of its full MTOW. If Wing Loong II were capable of carrying a similar proportion of its MTOW as part of its external payload, it should be able to carry 1.2 tons, but as we can see it can't even carry half that expected payload, at 480kg.
It likely isn't an issue with the powerplant either, because if Wing Loong has a relatively high MTOW of 4.2 tons, then it shows they have the powerplant to get something of that weight in the air.
Therefore one possible explanation, is that possibly Wing Loong II is constructed of heavier materials than MQ-9, therefore it explains the discrepancy in actual useful payload/external stores as well as explaining the similarity in MTOW... but this is also unlikely because I don't think the Chinese would be that behind in materials technology and structural design to result in consequences of that degree.
Another possible explanation is that the Wing Loong II is also expected to permanently carry a relatively heavy internal payload, such a SAR, which may reduce what it can carry externally to some degree...
Finally, another possible explanation is that during the time of advertisement, it could be that Wing Loong II had yet to be tested with heavier external payloads, and maybe the marketing team for some reason decided to not project the intended payload of Wing Loong II rather than merely its currently validated payload instead.
Needless to say, we should keep an eye out in the foreseeable future regarding just what its actual external stores capacity is.
I also have to say that choosing the Wing Loong name as the marketing title is freaking stupid. Calling it Yi Long or simply Pterodactyl that was one of its other many original names instead would have been far better.
That's a good catch! Very likely a prototype has been flying.
JayBird
Junior Member
Is it possible the 480KG payload is for export version of wing loong II only? According to the CH-5 designer Shiwen here in this article. He says CH-5 export version max payload is 480KG, but for domestic version max payload 800-900KG. Maybe is the same with Wing Loong II with different version = different max payload.
此次展会现场还展出了彩虹—5无人机，彩虹-5无人机是航天科技集团公司目前察打一体无人机最新的一款，彩虹-5在2015年8月进行首飞。该机起飞重量超过3吨，翼展为20米，载重能力为1吨，可携带能穿透墙壁的雷达，以便人和追踪建筑物内的目标，是中国参与由美国主导的中型军用无人机竞赛的最新选手，它比我国过去研制的同类无人机大了两倍多，从外形尺寸到起飞重量都达到了国际领先水平。
石文总师介绍表示，彩虹-5无人机使用汽油发动机续航时间可达40小时，在将来进行动力拓展后可达100小时。作为一款中空无人机升限可达9000-10000米，对外出口版本载荷480公斤，而国内使用的版本载荷可达800-900公斤，配合不同的设备，可以在察打一体，侦察，运输等功能间切换。和彩虹-3比，无论是尺寸还是性能都有了非常高的提升。在民用方面也有很重要的应用。
和彩虹-4相比，彩虹-5无人机载重能力提升了2.5倍，翼下可挂载更多武器，设备舱也有不少升级。
Interesting, I wasn't aware that CH-5 had differing external payloads for domestic and export versions....
However, that still wouldn't fully explain the Wing Loong II's characteristics, because in the export Wing Loong II, that extra available payload still has to go somewhere...
It is possible that the hypothetical export Wing Loong II (and CH-5) may lack additional structural components in the wing which reduces both the UAV's overall MTOW to a small degree but also significantly reduces the payload that can be stationed on the wing itself, which would be the most likely explanation for such a difference.
But it is still bizarre to me that they would downgrade the payload for an export version of a MALE UCAV, as the ability to carry large payloads externally is the big selling capability for these types of hunter killer drones, and deliberately limiting it mean they're trying to sell it at a disadvantage compared to the likes of MQ-9.
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