WT... Flying Saucer? AVIC Super(?) Great White Shark?

Xizor

Captain
Registered Member
@TerraN_EmpirE
This seems to be purely a mockup / experimental thingy intended to make sure that local visitors do throng the stalls. The thing looks weird (and hideous). Distinctly "Juche". Something that Kim Jong Un would inspect. There exists no use-case for this thing. Kinda like the occasional "concept art" showing BWB designs and SSTO stuff from Boeing, Airbus etc. A PR effort.
 

JsCh

Junior Member
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Flying saucer-like attack helicopter to take to the sky in 2020
By Liu Xuanzun in Tianjin Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/11 15:53:40

dfc7799d-3e93-4811-8469-07d22ac51199.jpeg
The Super Great White Shark attack helicopter, which looks like a flying saucer, is on display at the 5th China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin on October 10, 2019. Photo: Liu Xuanzun/GT

China has showcased an attack helicopter model that looks just like a flying saucer, a scale prototype of which is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2020. Chinese military experts said on Friday that though the aircraft is highly experimental and may not be put into practical use anytime soon, it is beneficial to China's technology development for future helicopters.

Dubbed the Super Great White Shark, the sci-fi-like aircraft is on display at the 5th China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin, which runs from Thursday to Sunday.

The 7.6-meter-long, 2.85-meter-wide helicopter features a blended wing body design, which makes it seem as though the aircraft itself is a wide ring with its cockpit fixed in the center.

According to the information board at the exposition, inside the ring there is a coaxial rotor system with a diameter of 4.9 meters, which will likely provide vertical lift. On two opposite sides of the ring, both parallel to the direction the cockpit is facing, there are two turbojet engines that could provide huge horizontal thrust for high speed movement.

Two pilots can fit in the cockpit, and can steer the direction of the aircraft by controlling a set of rudders located under the rotor system. The rudders could also work with the rotor system to provide a small horizontal thrust for low speed movement.

The helicopter has a maximum takeoff weight of 6,000 kilograms, a top speed of 650 kilometers per hour, a ceiling of 6,000 meters and a climb rate of 16.5 meters per second, according to the information board, which also said that its fuselage is coated with stealth materials.

The Super Great White Shark is a high-speed helicopter designed for future digitalized warfare, according to the board.

Attracted by the futuristic design of the aircraft, Chinese military observers pointed out that the aircraft's high-speed and stealth capabilities could give the weapon an edge on the battlefield.

Others questioned the helicopter, saying that it could be unstable and might not be able to fly safely. They noted that foreign countries including the US had made experiments with similar ideas in the past which had failed to be put into practice.

A scale prototype of the aircraft will make its maiden flight at the 2020 edition of Airshow China in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, China Central Television reported on Friday.

"Whether or not this particular helicopter can become practical, such explorations are beneficial to China's technology development for future helicopters," an anonymous military expert told the Global Times on Friday.

High speed, intelligence, stealth and low noise are four technological directions that future helicopters are headed toward, another anonymous expert told the Global Times at the China Helicopter Exposition.

In the meantime, helicopters must become more reliable and easier to maintain, he said.
 

Inst

Captain
@TerraN_EmpirE
This seems to be purely a mockup / experimental thingy intended to make sure that local visitors do throng the stalls. The thing looks weird (and hideous). Distinctly "Juche". Something that Kim Jong Un would inspect. There exists no use-case for this thing. Kinda like the occasional "concept art" showing BWB designs and SSTO stuff from Boeing, Airbus etc. A PR effort.

More the powers that be are showing they have an R&D budget.

Some of the time, you're going to produce clones or products that follow the main developmental direction, like the J-20 or WZ-10. Sometimes, you're going to try something really out there that might not work, but is worth a try. See American X-planes as an example or the Su-47.

Who knows, maybe this aircraft will have incredible maneuverability for a helicopter and keep 'copters relevant for a decade or two longer. The alternative is tilt-rotors and drones, which AVIC is already doing.
 

Xizor

Captain
Registered Member
More the powers that be are showing they have an R&D budget.

Some of the time, you're going to produce clones or products that follow the main developmental direction, like the J-20 or WZ-10. Sometimes, you're going to try something really out there that might not work, but is worth a try. See American X-planes as an example or the Su-47.

Who knows, maybe this aircraft will have incredible maneuverability for a helicopter and keep 'copters relevant for a decade or two longer. The alternative is tilt-rotors and drones, which AVIC is already doing.
The quality of the build screams "low budget". Is it supposed to work using Coanda effect ? It doesn't seem so. A ducted fan helicopter/ vehicle would've made some sense ( a lot of sense, actually). I hope this thing gets shelved. Where is the "Blue Whale" Heavy Lift Helicopter ?
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
@TerraN_EmpirE
This seems to be purely a mockup / experimental thingy intended to make sure that local visitors do throng the stalls. The thing looks weird (and hideous). Distinctly "Juche". Something that Kim Jong Un would inspect. There exists no use-case for this thing. Kinda like the occasional "concept art" showing BWB designs and SSTO stuff from Boeing, Airbus etc. A PR effort.
I get it’s a mock up.but there is a concept at the heart of that.
 

Inst

Captain
The quality of the build screams "low budget". Is it supposed to work using Coanda effect ? It doesn't seem so. A ducted fan helicopter/ vehicle would've made some sense ( a lot of sense, actually). I hope this thing gets shelved. Where is the "Blue Whale" Heavy Lift Helicopter ?

The mockup is low budget. The black saucer is a serious tech demonstrator.
 

by78

General
Cross-posting here from the Chinese Aviation Industry thread. As you can see from the specs, the speed of this thing and its payload are quite significant.

Occupants: Two
Length: 7.6m
Height: 2.85m
Rotor Diameter: 4.9m
Standard Takeoff Weight: 3500kg
Max Takeoff Weight: 6000kg
Max Level Flight Speed: 650km/hr
Ceiling: 6000m
Range: 2950m
Rate of Climb: 16.5m/s

48877267406_810b27220a_o.jpg


What's more interesting is that the "Great White Shark" is the result of a much larger future rotorcraft program that also looked at other fuselage designs, as seen in the image below. The Great White Shark may externally resemble the
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, but that's coincidental, as the internals are rather very different. Avrocar failed due to its insurmountable stability problems, its miserable payload capacity, low speed, and the fact that it could only fly 1.1 meter off the ground. The Great White Shark, on the other hand, adopts the saucer shroud as a means of achieving battlefield stealth. If I'm reading this correctly, it features two contra-rotating co-axial lift-fans to counter instability induced by the torque effect, and forward thrust is provided by a pair of turbojets. Turbojets are used presumably due to limited space. Change in direction is provided by varying thrusts of the two turbojets.
48888802681_928f15475b_k.jpg



Here's another concept born out of the same program, code named "King Elephant". It's a heavy-lift rotorcraft.

Specs are as follows:
Rotor diameter: 37.6m
Height of 10.6m
Empty weight: 29 tons
Max take-off weight: 58.5 tons
Max cruising speed: 450km/hr
Range: 2350km
Ceiling: 7000m
Occupants: 5

As you can see, the King Elephant is essentially a larger version of the "Great White Shark" without the stealth shroud. It too features a pair of co-axial contra-rotating rotors for lift, with forward thrust provided by a pair of turbofans.
48888982087_4e10380922_o.jpg


And finally, there is a drone version of the Great White Shark named XS-1, featuring an AI pilot (?).
48888802446_985d9ffea0_k.jpg


P.S. I couldn't completely translate these as they are images. Please point out any errors in my summary.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Are these saucer looking designs somehow more efficient that helicopters? I'm missing the point so far.
 

Dfangsaur

Junior Member
Registered Member
Lol this thing. Don't pay attention to what the claim is, pay attention to who makes the product. This is a project by 大嘴鹦鹉空天技术, a complete nobody, no previous projects or a website or anything. Calling it vaporware would be an insult to vaporware.
 
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