Armenia buys CH-4.
Chinese MALE, HALE (+rotary, small, suicide, logistic, others) UAV/UCAV
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Interesting event in case it is correct what I understand!
Shenyang / SAC (?) has unveiled a first new UAV, that based on the title "他机试飞" = "Other Aircraft Test Flight" is a "test and verification platform" in the meaning this factory is specialised on manufacturing & testing UAVs that mimic those of other countries for testing and verification.
Their first product resembles a prop-driven mini-MQ-25 UAV.
Shenyang / SAC (?) has unveiled a first new UAV, that based on the title "他机试飞" = "Other Aircraft Test Flight" is a "test and verification platform" in the meaning this factory is specialised on manufacturing & testing UAVs that mimic those of other countries for testing and verification.
Their first product resembles a prop-driven mini-MQ-25 UAV.
ASN-301/FL-300A loitering munition and its launching platform in the service of the Armenian Army, from the recent Republic Day military parade.
AVIC LETRI's INTELLIGENT EARLY WARNING RADAR (IEWR) an airborne early warning and fire control radar for UAVs (not sure if the radar shown alongside WL-2 static display is for podded configuration).
I'm guessing there are missiles with AI imaging seekers or general autonomous target detectors that need target drone with high visual fidelity to test against.
Apparently yet another larger twin-engined UAV - if I'm not mistaken from Chengdu (Chengdu Zongheng Automation Technology Co., Ltd.) made its maiden flight ...
PS ... seems to be originally the Yunlong 3, a 2t-class MALE UAV. For the dimension it is 9.6 m long, has a span of 19.6 m and a height of 2.69 m. MTOW is 2200 kg, max. range is 7500 km, endurance is 40 hours and service ceiling is 10,000 m.
(Via @琴石2022)
PS ... seems to be originally the Yunlong 3, a 2t-class MALE UAV. For the dimension it is 9.6 m long, has a span of 19.6 m and a height of 2.69 m. MTOW is 2200 kg, max. range is 7500 km, endurance is 40 hours and service ceiling is 10,000 m.
(Via @琴石2022)
To me, this is yet another example of how UAVs have triggered a genuine renaissance in aviation design. For roughly the past seventy years, manned aircraft development became increasingly conservative, mostly because designers were unwilling to stray too far from proven configurations and established aerodynamic layouts.
With unmanned platforms, however, engineers are finally willing to take risks again. UAV development has reopened entire avenues of experimentation, reviving concepts from earlier eras and revisiting thought experiments that were theoretically sound but technologically impractical before the maturation of microprocessors, advanced control systems, and AI.
To my eye, this design looks like something straight out of a 1940s aeronautics journal, and I mean that as a compliment. In my opinion, it is not just practical, but genuinely elegant.
Yes, however I am surprised that so many - even more so from CAC - similar overlapping or even concurring designs are built: CAC is closely (or was) related to now Tengden and the Twin-tailed Scorpion is quite similar to the Yunlong 3 albeit larger and heavier.
