Tactical cargo airlift, which could help in terms of relieving manpower pressure, such that pilots can fly the larger Y-20s and special mission aircrafts (of which the workloads and operational environments are always going to be more challenging and demanding than flying purely airlift missions).
Chinese MALE, HALE (and rotary, small, suicide) UAV/UCAV
- Thread starter Blitzo
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Tactical cargo airlift, which could help in terms of relieving manpower pressure, such that pilots can fly the larger Y-20s and special mission aircrafts (of which the workloads and operational environments are always going to be more challenging and demanding than flying purely airlift missions).
Which actual model was this MALE UAV shown at the parade (in front of the CCAs), was it WL-X/3? Seems it got totally ignored.
On a side note has there been any news recently on ASW drones like the WL-X variant shown at Zhuhai last year, I would think those are in high demand to complement manned MPAs.
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I thought it was pretty significant that they showed it at Tianjin. My guess is it would still be used in the Eastern Theatre, but with such a sleek body, it could easily manoeuvre those more hard-to-reach Western Theatre terrains.
by78
General
I will remain a tactical cargo lift, but its range and/or cargo capacity may be greater than the manned Y-8/9 on which it's based. For now, this is being presented strictly as a civilian version, slotted in at the high end of unmanned regional cargo solutions. The Air Force has to be at least somewhat interested in the platform but may opt to wait until the platform is proven in the civilian market.
I wasn't aware that there was an official approval process, that's interesting.