Chinese UAV/UCAV development

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Blitzo

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fan art of course, and a bad one (forgive me being blatant). The wings will break in the middle joints.

Not necessarily; the wings in that CGI is not dissimilar to the Bird of Prey demonstrator, essentially just turned upside down.

That said I have no idea what this thing would be good for apart from as a tech demo
 

taxiya

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Not necessarily; the wings in that CGI is not dissimilar to the Bird of Prey demonstrator, essentially just turned upside down.

That said I have no idea what this thing would be good for apart from as a tech demo
you could be right. Depending on the shape of cross-section of the outer wings, they may not bear much upward lift force. They could be acting more like a canted vertical stabilizer. The combined shape of the fuselage, inner and outer section of the wings looks like a channel. But my knowledge of aerodynamics is too low to make any sense out of it.

Was Bird of Prey supposed to be supersonic?
 

WestRiver

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Some lucky guy got the invitation to visit the producer of Rainbow UAVs. He posted his factory tour on Weibo (after professional self-censorship to comply with the confidentiality agreement:)).

The showroom: CH-3, CH-4 and the weaponry
showroom_1.jpg Weapon_a.jpg Weapon_b.jpg

Ground Control Station shelter and antenna
Station.jpg Antenna.jpg

Assembly hall
Production_a.jpg
 

Deino

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Impressive ... even more since it is a IMO CH-5 and not the usual CH-4.

The CH-4's head is much more flat; also it has that huge cooling intake under the real fuselage..
CH-4 side.jpg CH-4 in Iraq - 16.jpg

... whereas the CH-5 is more bulged and has an extra fin under the rear:
CH-5 maiden flight - 5.11.15 - 1.jpg


Deino
 

WestRiver

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The planes in the plant are CH-5. Comparing these two photos shows that the CH-5 is much larger.
CH-4.jpg
production_c-jpg.33281

The CH-5 has a low-wing configuration while CH-4 is mid-wing, even so, the wings of CH-5 is still higher than the CH-4's.

More informations given during the tour:
1. CH-4 can carry 8 Missiles using dual-rack pylons. CH-5 can take 12.
2. Drone combat radius can reach 2000km with the support of the satellite antenna.
3. Fly a drone is easy, some elite pilots from middle east can learn it in one afternoon. Some trainees from Africa without any flight experience would take one or two months.
4. Just recently, new generation Drone (CH-5) has been exported to a country which has also equipped the best available american drones. (Egypt ? ?)
5. At last, an UAV still in development was shown to the visitors, No photo allowed and even text description to the public is prohibited. All he could say is: It looks like neuron. (Competitor of Sharp Sword? )
 

samawat

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Thank you man, those photos and facts made my day, since I am waiting stuff related to Chinese turboprop drones for quite a while ... . All this implies CH 5 got certified and in serial production currently ?
 
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