Can anyone identify ?

It's definitely a different design.

This new box wing uav is somewhat smaller than xianglong. While it holds a relatively similar configuration, the innumerable design differences from antennae dome's curve, to the angles of the wing join, to height, length, tail design, inlet geometry, engine nozzle, etc is completely different to that of xianglong.

If it were a xianglong derivative you would not see so many small differences, but rather a few very obvious design changes.

tphuang said:

I think this is from CAC. Not 100% sure though.

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Didn't the guys wall it off?

Bltizo said:

It's definitely a different design.

This new box wing uav is somewhat smaller than xianglong. While it holds a relatively similar configuration, the innumerable design differences from antennae dome's curve, to the angles of the wing join, to height, length, tail design, inlet geometry, engine nozzle, etc is completely different to that of xianglong.

If it were a xianglong derivative you would not see so many small differences, but rather a few very obvious design changes.

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I noticed there're other significant differences. My question was basically whether it'll replace the original Xianglong prototope, or it's another variant to complement it.

The Xianglong is a more elegant design. Love to see it flying. This one looks like a stepchild. Glad China is doing new designs though.

Huitong posted this new entry.

Besides Wing Loong, another long-range UAV called Soaring Dragon was jointly 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 full-scale model (?) was built and tested at CAC in 2011. Subsequently it underwent substantial redesign based on the issues revealed during the tests. The new Soaring Dragon appears to feature several major changes. It has a smaller length and wingspan and has twin vertical tailfins slanted outwards. This gives the UAV a lower profile. Smilar to BZK-009, it has a head bulge housing a SATCOM antenna, and is likely powered by the same WS-11 turbofan engine with a dorsal air intake. Several dark fairings can be seen under the fuselage which could house EO equipment and 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.

Quickie said:

I noticed there're other significant differences. My question was basically whether it'll replace the original Xianglong prototope, or it's another variant to complement it.

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This UAV is way smaller than xianglong (think reaper size to global hawk size) so it'll definitely not be replacing it unless PLA lowered its requirements.


I think huitong has got it wrong. They're definitely two different aircraft. He probably just saw the box wing and deduced the most likely explanation that it was a xianglong redesign, without looking closer

It's definitely a modification of this earlier model to me.

This was posted about a year ago. You have the Xianglong/Soar Dragon and this mini-Global Hawk in the CAC hangar. This "Soar Dragon 2.0" first surface two summers ago. So does CAC have a graveyard hangar of dead UAV projects? With so many UAV designs appearing, you have to wonder if it really is an offspring of the Soar Dragon 1.0.

Basically, this is why I believe the two UAVs are definitely not the same, using a rough guesstimate of a common metric via people's heights.
Obviously there is some room for error, but the difference in length (and probably wingspan as well) is too great to make these two the same plane.

And that's including all the other innumerable tiny design differences which cannot be the result of a mere "modification" from xianglong

AssassinsMace said:

This was posted about a year ago. You have the Xianglong/Soar Dragon and this mini-Global Hawk in the CAC hangar. This "Soar Dragon 2.0" first surface two summers ago. So does CAC have a graveyard hangar of dead UAV projects? With so many UAV designs appearing, you have to wonder if it really is an offspring of the Soar Dragon 1.0.

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The smaller one with V tail fins may be this one, nicknamed as "Village Eagle".

Here are some untouched shots without any markings.