China Helicopter Expo 2017

A few high-res photos of the 1600kW-class turboshaft engine...

The placard doesn't say anything revealing; no specs listed. It's simply a general intro.

Some more high-res photos of the AC313 firefighting variant.

And finally, just some nice, high-resolition photos of various known platforms at the expo.

The End...

Hendrik_2000 said:

Well MQ8B is also twice as big as AV500W with MTOW of 1-1/2 ton vs 450Kg for AV500W. China is at least a decade behind when it come to UAH. But they are catching up I understand they start working on 1 ton UAH last year which put it in the class of MQ8B.

Click to expand...

I doubt there is any real difference in the challenges associated with making a small vs. large unmanned helicopter. And that being the case, it makes sense to start with a small one to minimise overall costs while achieving project objectives.

A small unmanned helicopter can also realise the most significant advantage that unmanned systems offer: the ability to make machines smaller than can accommodate a human pilot, or one that is much more efficient in comparison to very light manned helicopters (where the pilot and associated support/control systems make up a significant proportion of total vehicle mass).