I think here's a misunderstanding. If You say the PLA = Army operates them, then the PLA also operates J-10. I think H.K also means in this translated text Chinese army = PLA in general.
My point is that the Army aviation or the ground forces only operate smaller ones like the BZK-006. The Shahe AB is used by the PLA HQ.
Deino
I don't know where you get the idea that PLA headquarter is in Shahe
because as far as I know the PLA headquarter is in Beijing.
Shahe is the army headquarter or Armee du Terre in French. the fact that sofar Chinese army only have small UAV is irrelevant since we know both the navy and the airforce are using larger and larger UAV
You need to read his report on Cloud shadow that convince me it is intended for the army
It is HAME(high altitude medium endurance) which make it unlikely candidate for PLAN, PLAAF because it is short legged
His argument is based on range 300-400km, 2hr loiter time,high speed.modular construction, type of weapon that it will carry
However, it can still be assumed that - because of the turbojet which generally consumes more than the turboprops, a higher cruising speed and a size no larger than the usual MALEs
therefore a restricted volume in internal tanks - The Cloud Shadow is not a long endurance drone, although it is built with 60% composite materials according to CAC.
This point can be seen indirectly in the exploded view of the drone, where the blue part represents the internal reservoirs of the drone.
The sectional view of the Cloud Shadow drone
A very approximate calculation gives a central reservoir that is 3.8 x 0.6 x 0.7 meters in size, so about 1.6 m3 by volume. If we add to this volume 50% more to take an account also the reservoirs of the wing, we are therefore about 2.4 m3 of tank. Suppose now that the kerosene density is between 755 and 840 kg / m3, the Cloud Shadow could carry up to 2 tons of kerosene, but the actual figure should be much lower. It only remains to find the SFC engine WP-11C, the basic version is derived from the model
J69-T-41A , to know approximately how long the UAV can stay aloft.
SFC from J69 to Mach 0.8 and sea level (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
Assuming that the WP-11C SFC is 1.2 kg / kgf / h, the Cloud Shadow would then only have 2 hours of run time. But since all these calculations are based on a starting volume and a very rough SFC, it is advisable to remain cautious and to take these data only to give us an order of magnitude, namely "a few hours of flight". It can therefore be said that this drone is of medium endurance, therefore a "HAME".
Can we already say that "Cloud Shadow" is "short-legged"? In fact, it depends on what they are asked to fulfill as missions, ie what needs to be addressed and who is the target customers, who are pushing CAC engineers to design a product with such characteristics.
Unfortunately, the official CAC publications did not give any details about the target customers, but according to some of our sources, the Cloud Shadow would become the first "big" drone of the Chinese Army, Until now only small drones of the "theater" for ISR missions, or guidance and evaluation of artillery damage.
The video broadcast by CAC on the AVIC stand at the Zhuhai Show shows that there are 3 versions of "Cloud Shadow" - an armed version with 6 ammunition weights of 400 kg in total, and two ISR versions, one of which is dedicated to reconnaissance Optic and the other with SAR radar. A ground control station can pilot 3 drones at a time, where the 3 versions cooperate together and fly in formation.
For ten years, many Chinese manufacturers that address the emerging market for military drones, whose armed drones among which are especially the family of drones
Caihong aerospace group CCACs and family
Wing Loong aeronautical group AVIC, both widely used in China and exported overseas. But there are still few Chinese armed drones that can, or are designed to, fly above 10,000 meters of altitude. The "Cloud Shadow" drone, designed by CAC (Chengdu Aircraft Corporation) and presented for the first time at the 11th edition of the Zhuhai Air Show, is part of this exception.
The Cloud Shadow drone version armed
If the first client of the "Cloud Shadow" is actually the Chinese Army, then it is not surprising that it first favors speed and altitude, to the detriment of autonomy. For the objective is to equip a fast strike vector beyond the usual range of its artillery, that is to say 300 kilometers maximum, in the case where it must act alone therefore without support in depth of the forces of the rockets and support Air force.
The Cloud Shadow will also provide a broader SRI capability than now, but since ground units advance 150 to 300 kilometers per day in an offensive operation, it is not necessary for the drones to remain in flight Beyond the duration of an attack wave.
The needs in this case are therefore to have a vector -
- With a high survivability rate, hence the 14,000-meter ceiling that exceeds the maximum limit for short-range air defense weapons, and the use of certain measures to reduce the SER of the craft as well as the serrated contours of Trap door and sensor window, or the S-shaped air inlet to hide the engine blades ... etc.
- Quick to deploy and maintain, hence the fact that the "Cloud Shadow" is transportable "in 6 modules" and can be "assembled in two to three hours", as was seen before the opening of the Zhuhai Exhibition Where CAC personnel spent less than one morning assembling the drone.
- Capable of intervening quickly, hence its higher speed, at 620 km / h, than the other MALE drones.
