Zephyr Net

In recent years, many types of UAVs have been developed in China by various universities, research institutes and manufactures. However most of them failed to enter series production or the service due to their poor performance and relatively primitive technology utilized. As a result, only a handful modern UAVs with sufficient technological sophistication are lucky enough to enter the service with the military. A UCAV (Wing Loong/Pterosaur I) similar to American MQ-1 Predator has been developed by the 611 Institute/GAIC since 2005 which successfully locked on a ground target and destroyed it with KD-10 ATGMs. In 2011 UAE was believed to have become the first foreign customer of Wing Loong. It was reported (January 2012) that the first sub-orbital flight of a new unmanned spacecraft (Divine Dragon) took place successfully in 2011. The spacecraft is thought to be similar to American X-35B in configuration but smaller. It has been developed by the 611 Institute.


Sharp Sword







The 001 prototype of Sharp Sword UCAV is shown here taxiing at the Hongdu airfield. It was reported that 601 and Hongdu have been working on a long-range stealth UCAV similar to American X-47B and French Neuron. A scale model was publicized in September 2011 revealing an X-47B style tailless flying wing and a triangular dorsal air intake configuration, in an effort to minimize RCS and reduce IR emission. The UCAV also features a SATCOM datalink antenna located aft the dorsal air intake. As a UCAV, Sharp Sword is expected to carry at least two GPS/Beidou guided bombs or LGBs separately inside two internal bomb bay. Its wings appears foldable, suggesting it could be deployed on an aircraft carrier, like X-47B. Its length is around 10m and wingspan is around 14m. The first prototype was built by the end of 2012. First high speed taxiing took place on January 26, 2013, powered likely by an RD-93 turbofan engine with A/B, even though the UCAV is unlikely to fly supersonic. First flight is expected in summer 2013. However the engine nozzle appears to be unshielded, due to the extra length of the afterburner, since RD-93 is the only mid-thrust turbofan engine currently available. This problem should be resolved when a shorter engine without A/B (modified RD-33 or WS-13) is installed in the future. Besides Sharp Sword, a smaller UCAV flying wing prototype was developed earlier by NTU.

Do the chinese actually design ANYTHING OR do they just STEAL everything from everyone else on the planet?

What a worthless society that cant create anything of their own. They even stole the BMW X5 and copied it bolt for bolt...

Scumbags.

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FA Futures/FA-2 is Still Being Worked On and Will Be Released...

Besides Wing Loong, another long-range semi-stealth UAV called Soaring Dragon has been developed by 611 Institute and GAIC . This large UAV features a box/diamond wing design to increase lift while reducing drag and weight. Soaring Dragon reportedly weighs 7,500kg and has a range of 7,000km, a cruising speed of 750km/hr and a cruising altitude of 18,000m. A technology demonstrator was built at CAC and reportedly flew at GAIC in 2011. Subsequently it underwent substantial redesign based on the issues revealed during the tests. The new redesigned Soaring Dragon appears to feature several major changes. It has a smaller length and wingspan. It also has twin vertical slanted tailfins extending outwards plus twin ventral stabilizing fins. This gives the UAV a lower profile than its predecessor. Similar to BZK-009, it has a head bulge housing a SATCOM antenna, and is likely powered by the same WS-11 turbofan (or WP-7 turbojet?) engine with a dorsal air intake. Several dark fairings can be seen on the lower part of the fuselage which could house FLIR or CCD cameras as well as an SAR antenna. It was rumored that a Soaring Dragon prototype was built by mid-2012 and first flight took place in late 2012 at the GAIC airfield. The UAV is expected to fly long-range recon and EW missions.