Chinese UCAV/CCA/Loyal Wingman (sensor, A2A and A2G) thread

[Tomboy]

I mean has there been any noticeable updates for the FH-97A program? No flying prototypes has been seen to date and no mentions of it outside of Zhuhai airshow which I think for last year it didn't actually even show up. But it seems like the design is promising, comes with EOTS for strike missions and radar and internal bays for A2A mission and could actually go supersonic.

 

[Maikeru]

I mean has there been any noticeable updates for the FH-97A program? No flying prototypes has been seen to date and no mentions of it outside of Zhuhai airshow which I think for last year it didn't actually even show up. But it seems like the design is promising, comes with EOTS for strike missions and radar and internal bays for A2A mission and could actually go supersonic.

Didn't we see what may have been an FH-97A flying earlier this year? Some debate over whether it was that or the mythical JH-XX.

 

[siegecrossbow]

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[Blitzo]

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The video and webpage is not loading for me.

Can you provide a description/summary of the video.



Alternatively, given the unreliability of Weibo for record keeping, even some screenshots of the relevant frames, accompanied by a brief summary would be useful.

 

[Tomboy]

The video and webpage is not loading for me.

Can you provide a description/summary of the video.



Alternatively, given the unreliability of Weibo for record keeping, even some screenshots of the relevant frames, accompanied by a brief summary would be useful.

It's the first known flight of UR6000 tiltrotor drone

 

[siegecrossbow]

The video and webpage is not loading for me.

Can you provide a description/summary of the video.



Alternatively, given the unreliability of Weibo for record keeping, even some screenshots of the relevant frames, accompanied by a brief summary would be useful.

Video got taken down. They thought it was R-600 but it is possible that it is actually an Osprey and they made a mistake.

 

[dingyibvs]

They are supposed to sacrifice themselves to get close with speed and allow the manned fighters to launch missiles. They can get away with not having stealth.

How close can they get with their subsonic speed and no stealth? They might as well be target practice drones in a peer warfare.

That's why I think the cheap expendable CCA concept does not appear viable right now. To be able to mix in with high end assets they need to have similar speed, range, and stealth which makes for an expensive platform. To be useful they'd need to either carry a decent weapons load or advanced avionics, which further increases cost. You end up really just saving on the cost of pilots and their sustenance, which while significant is not enough to make it a cheap expendable aircraft.

 

[Blitzo]

View attachment 152798

Video got taken down. They thought it was R-600 but it is possible that it is actually an Osprey and they made a mistake.

Oh that video.

Considering if it was actually a R6000, I think we should've gotten more hints of it from other places that it had flown, I'm tempted to say it's someone either making a mistake or deliberately trying to grift and then getting called out.

That's why having more than just a link to a video is helpful imo...

 

[LuzinskiJ]

How close can they get with their subsonic speed and no stealth? They might as well be target practice drones in a peer warfare.

That's why I think the cheap expendable CCA concept does not appear viable right now. To be able to mix in with high end assets they need to have similar speed, range, and stealth which makes for an expensive platform. To be useful they'd need to either carry a decent weapons load or advanced avionics, which further increases cost. You end up really just saving on the cost of pilots and their sustenance, which while significant is not enough to make it a cheap expendable aircraft.

They are probably not CCA's then, given the slow speed and zero-stealth regardless of the hype. However, they can be formidable autonomous ship-hunters and even more useful SAM/AAM baits if deployed in sufficient numbers. They are large enough to carry enough firepower to sink ships and smart enough to find those ships on their own, so everyone of them needs to taken seriously. And if deployed in large enough numbers concurrently, they will be effective in eroding the fighting capacity of their opponents. So these drones will probably be deployed like shock troops in that they will go in the first wave to weaken the opposition before the manned-unmanned teams.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Why is it such a stretch to think that China has CCAs? They’ve been working on drone data linking and AI assistance in aerial combat for years. Watch for satellite images from Dingxin and other airbases in the North West. One of these days you’ll see many UAVs you are not familiar with.