Chinese UAV/UCAV development

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taxiya

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What advantage does this platform offer over something like Winglong or CH-3/4 aside from vertical takeoff/landing and the ability to hover?
I see one advantage of a helicopter is that, it can fly in, land and hide at a close distance, receive command, take off and shoot. That would be a big surprise. The target infor can be acquired by a conventional UAV and command from the remote operator. The UCAV's disadvantage is that it has to fly high and for a longer time, or even circle around for some time, that will reveal its presence to the target and be shot down. While with a helicopter, even the target acquisition UAV is spotted, the target still has no idea where and how many the missile will come from. Shooting down the target acquisition UAV will not necessarily save the target either after the target's approximate location has been relayed to the command center.

In a sense to man-in-the-loop world, the UAV would be like a reconn aircraft while the heli UCAV would be the special force hidden close.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
PLA university professor calls for China to design ‘AlphaEagle’ for air battle
By Jiang Jie (
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) 16:01, July 06, 2016

FOREIGN201607061601000356689702682.jpg

(Left: File photo of a Chinese drone of CH series. Right: Snapshot of the match between AlphaGo and Go champion Lee Sedol)
China should set its sights on designing an unmanned automatic aerial vehicle battle system to prepare for the threat of air battle between drones, according to a professor with the Air Force Engineering University (AFEU).

Based on a number of flight parameters, the battle system, coded as “AlphaEagle,” should be able to automatically assess battle situations and calculate threats before responding with offensive or defensive measures--theoretically similar to Google DeepMind's AlphaGo, said the professor, Huang Changqiang, at a forum in Beijing on Wednesday.

The forum is a sub-forum of the 4th China Conference on Command and Control, which is a three-day conference held by the Chinese Institute of Command and Control.

AFEU has been accumulating parameters from air battle training and live ammunition fight tests for three generations of fighter jets since 1998. All this data could be of use in the development of an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), according to Huang. Huang added that the university is already testing a model UCAV.

“Drones are currently like kites flying under the control of human beings. If we can learn from AlphaGo and create the artificially intelligence ‘AlphaEagle,’ our air force will hover high in the sky,” he promised.

Calling the system a “virtual pilot,” Huang said it should be able to learn from the data of human pilots, and in doing so figure out how to calculate its offensive-defensive role so as to maintain an advantage during battle.

He also pointed out that drone battles are a serious imminent threat, as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can easily overcome human pilots. This is because their only limitation is the weapon itself or the aircraft’s performance. Huang added that major powers like the U.S. have already stepped up their efforts toward UCAV development.

“A human pilot will spend 50 percent of his or her attention on winning the battle, and the other 50 percent on self-protection. The virtual pilot can keep the ratio around 90 to 10,” Huang explained.

Huang also mentioned that drone pilots can suffer mental trauma during and after battle, while an automatic system would not have that potential problem.
 

supercat

Major
View attachment 28917

Factory picture of Guizhou Aircraft Company not only shows JL-9 but also two UAVs.

Proof that some reporters for Popular Science read sinodefenceforum.com? The first picture in the article is exactly the one quoted above.

Soar Eagle! China's Coolest Looking Drone Enters Production
New Xianglongs on the Way

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The Xianglong "Soar Dragon" UAV, one of the more distinct looking drones in the world, is now in serial production. Built by the Guizhou Aircraft Corporation, is one of China's largest UAVs. Its unique "closed" tandem wings (giving it a diamond shape when viewed from above or below) are not just for show. They increase its flight endurance and high altitude performance by reducing wingtip drag. A July 2016 picture showing a JL-9 trainer jet at GAC assembly plant had three Xianglong UAVs in the background, in various states of completion.

The Xianglong gives China a large UAV capability in the category of the US made RQ-4 Global Hawk. Surpassed only in size by the Divine Eagle double bodied UAV, it is about twelve meters in length, with a twenty meter wingspan and a 10-12 ton maximum takeoff weight (measurements are all approximations). The operational Xianglong is likely to be used for maritime surveillance of foreign bases and warships, as part of the anti-access/area denial kill chain. Its long flight time and large sensor payload, in particular, could allow it to follow aircraft carriers, while vacuuming up a wealth of data, for extended periods of time.

The system might also move beyond a surveillance role. Chinese engineers have noted that the Xianglong's large payload, endurance and range makes it ideal for electronic warfare (EW) missions, both for gathering intelligence on electronic activity, as well as carrying jammers to disrupt enemy radars and datalinks. In wartime, the Xianglong's high altitude jammers would seek to disrupt not only the radars of enemy fighters and missiles, but also jam and spoof communications between enemy bombers, airborne early warning and control aircraft, drones and even datalinks between satellites, ships, land based missile launchers and missiles. in such role, the EW Xianglong would operate alongside a host of other Chinese EW aircraft, including Y-9 heavy transport jammers, J-16 and JH-7 strike aircraft, in both offensive and defensive operations.

With American "Third Offset" military technologies emphasizing networked communications and data sharing between distant platforms, China's response is soaring in response.

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