Chinese UAV/UCAV development

Ok sorry I don't meant to insult you but seem like we are talking different thing. My post is about Cloud shadow latter on I post article about soaring dragon
But you keep questioning how do I know if the Cloud shadow is intended for army?
I give explanation but the we talk about different thing

Hendrik_2000 said:

Ok sorry I don't meant to insult you but seem like we are talking different thing. My post is about Cloud shadow latter on I post article about soaring dragon
But you keep questioning how do I know if the Cloud shadow is intended for army?
I give explanation but the we talk about different thing

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Thanks ... and like be both noticed; we were talking on different things. I was always - at least in all my last posts - asking only on the Soaring Dragon, the Cloud Shadow - and here You or H.K. might indeed be correct - was never my point.

All the best and I'm happy that we solved this misunderstanding.

Deino

Hendrik_2000 said:

Assuming that the WP-11C SFC is 1.2 kg / kgf / h, the Cloud Shadow would then only have 2 hours of run time. But since all these calculations are based on a starting volume and a very rough SFC, it is advisable to remain cautious and to take these data only to give us an order of magnitude, namely "a few hours of flight". It can therefore be said that this drone is of medium endurance, therefore a "HAME".

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The figure gives SFC at sea level while the drone will be flying most of the time at a much higher altitude and so in colder air. This means a lower SFC and also a very much lower thrust. So flight time would be much higher. Remember that Gary Powers in his U-2 with its by now very old fashioned jet engine was on his way from Pakistan to Norway.

From Skywatcher blog good write up on Lijian congrat But 2 ton bomb load that is something ?
The fact that the design won 2 nd prize mean this UCAV will come tp fruition. Tha army has cloud shadow, the navy soar dragon, the air force has Lijian,The rocket force has Divine eagle. China UAV is moving on all front

MEET CHINA'S SHARP SWORD, A STEALTH DRONE THAT CAN LIKELY CARRY 2 TONS OF BOMBS

IT JUST WON A TECHNOLOGY PRIZE, SO CHINA'S PRETTY PROUD OF IT.

By January 18, 2017
=GT via China Defense Forum

Sharp Sword Flight

The Sharp Sword UCAV is one of China's most high-tech drones, with a flying wing body and internal bomb bad that maximizes its stealth and range. This image is from its first flight on November 21, 2013.

The Sharp Sword UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), China's stealthy attack drone, just won second place in the National Science and Technology Advancement Prizes. Considering the secrecy surrounding stealth drones to come out of China—there are relatively few photos of the Sharp Sword available, particularly as opposed to, say, the J-20 fighter—the Sharp Sword's victory is pretty noteworthy. The drone, known as "Lijian" in Mandarin Chinese, is being paraded as a huge win for Chinese aviation technology. And it is.


Hongjian via China Defense Forum

Stealthy Sword

The Lijian uses a flying wing body (just like the B-2 bomber and X-47B drone) in order to minimize its radar cross section. It has two bomb bays that can possibly up to 2 tons of ordnance.

The Sharp Sword is the first non-NATO stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). Built by Aviation Industry Corporation of China, with much of the work done by the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group, the Sharp Sword first flew in November 2013. Looking a bit like a mini-B-2 flying wing bomber, the UCAV has two internal bomb bays and a likely payload of about 4,400 pounds. Its engine is a non-afterburning WS-13 turbofan engine, with serpentine inlet to hide the engine from enemy radars (the first Sharp Sword does not use a stealthy nozzle due to its technology demonstrator status). It has a length of about 33 feet, and a wingspan of about 46 feet.


Archer_ZB

The Future of Unmanned Warfare

Stealthy flying wing UCAVs, like the Sharp Sword, are more survivable (by virtual of stealth) than traditional UAVs like the Predator, and have more onboard room for mission avionics, plus computers for artificial intelligence.

Other similar foreign systems include the American X-47B, the British Taranis, and the French Neuron. Stealthy UCAVs have a number of advantages over their manned counterparts: they can fit the same internal payload onto a smaller airframe, and have much longer ranges, in addition to the typical advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles, like longer flight times.




The Coming Swarm

Future iterations of the Sharp Sword are likely to be among the launch systems for Chinese combat AI.

Reporting from the Chinese Internet suggests that a second, even stealthier Sharp Sword began flying last year (with a stealthy engine). If flight testing with the prototypes goes as well as the initial flight tests did with the first airframe, the Sharp Sword could enter service as early as 2019-2020.

Initially, it's believed that the Sharp Sword will be used for reconnaissance in areas with dense air defense networks, as well as tailing foreign warships. As the Chinese develops a familiarity with the Sharp Sword, it could be used for combat operations as a "first through the door" weapon against highly defended, high-value targets, as well as an aerial tanker for other drones and carrier aircraft (akin to plans for the U.S. MQ-25). There is even the possibility of carrier version for China's planned next generation of catapult equipped aircraft carriers.

Eventually, advances in distributed systems and artificial intelligence could help the Sharp Sword be a robotic wingman to manned aircraft in an unmanned/manned operational concept. It could even take on autonomous missions of its own.

Don't know how credible this individual is, but an eyewitness living in Shenyang (who posts to PDF) claimed that he personally saw two Sharp Sword UCAV prototypes make test flights, with the most recent one occurring 5 days ago.

@Skywatcher

I just read your article on the Sharp Sword. Impressive research & insight, for sure, but I'm wondering where you heard the rumors that a stealthier variant flew in 2016.

Additionally, wasn't there talk that the Sharp Sword is actually a tech demonstrator rather than a prototype of a future UCAV?

The latest from Henri K. AVIC just won the largest UAV deal Now the question who is the client? And anecdotal account of how Wingloong performed under most difficult circumstances like lost of power or constant exposure to dessert heat Or hitting elusive target without exact position. Which Wing Loong pass with flying color. The client was impressed. Wow Impressive!


In September 2016 we discussed here , and a very short sentence in an article published by the Chinese manufacturer Monday, February 6 suggests that Delivery of the first device for a foreign customer is imminent.

" To meet the needs of foreign customers, the team of Wing Loong intensifies ground tests of the first Wing Loong II. ", Underlines the article, without giving the slightest detail.

On the image which is also published in parallel of the text appeared a drone, without its landing trains, placed on a support on the ground, which is of far more imposing size than its predecessor. It is seen through the height between the root and the ground which measures approximately 1.7 meters.

The apparatus is visibly always in final assembly, with several personnel, probably the preparers of the methods office, who work on the sides.


The first Wing Loong II for an export client on the assembly line (Photo: AVIC)

It is not known if this first export client of Wing Loong II is indeed Saudi Arabia, but the deputy chief engineer DAI Chuan (川 川) of the 611 Chengdu Institute had specified in a recent interview with a Chinese magazine That the AVIC group has signed "the biggest historical contract" of this family of drones, without specifying the name of the customer concerned.

But DAI revealed three interesting stories about the family of drones MALE Wing Loong to explain how Chengdu was able to enter the market of the region. One (Middle East?) Client asked the Chengdu team to put a Wing Loong drone on the ground in the desert in broad daylight for 8 hours before taking off. A test that the drone has a priori overcome effortlessly.

Then, once the drone in flight, the ground control station suddenly no more electric current. When the Chinese team asks the customer to return the current, the latter indicates that it is a test to see how the ground segment and the drone react during the cut.

The backup battery on the ground is exhausted a little more than an hour after, then all communication is lost with the drone after six hours. Despite this, the aircraft found the track alone and landed in full automatic.

The third story is about a visit from a "foreign VIP" who wanted to evaluate the drone Wing Loong. This future customer demanded, without warning in advance, that the machine attacks in autonomous mode a Jeep remotely guided in movement. The ground crew had only an indication of the approximate location of the vehicle.


A Wing Loong I in Egypt.

The missile-loaded drone then managed to search, identify and lock on the Jeep, without the intervention of its operators, before destroying it. The Chinese have learned later that this Jeep of American origin was imported by their client 7 years ago, and he has participated in a dozen live-fire exercises where the F-16 and Rafale the Have served as a target, without being able to touch it until then.

All these small indications suggest that the first client of Wing Loong II is either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, both of whom have been clients of Wing Loong I in recent years. Not to mention Egypt, which has several copies deployed near the border with Israel, could also be this mysterious first customer.

But if the first Wing Loong II flying under the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) color, then we may wonder why three Chinese armed drones, from two different manufacturers, find themselves together to serve for the same missions, Country is seeking to acquire an unmanned vector with a greater carrying capacity for its anti-terrorist struggle, especially above the Yemeni sky.

Indeed, the RSAF has already acquired a number of Wing Loong I in 2014, and presented late January their first CH-4B of the Chinese aerospace group CASC, we talked in the folder " ". The Wing Loong II, much larger than these two first, will certainly bring the missing capacity but there is probably some redundancy.


Wing Loong II is presented to the public for the first time at the Zhuhai Air Show (Photo: 议 军情)

Presented for the first time at the Zhuhai Air Show in November 2016, we know the existence of this Wing Loong II since September 2015 while it was under development.

Three times heavier than its predecessor, the drone is now playing in the same category of US drone MQ-9 Reaper . Besides, if you look the evolution of Wing Loong Wing Loong I to II, we find the same pattern of development at General Atomics, the RQ-1 Predator and MQ-9.

Some data on this new Chinese drone, which should also join the ranks of the Chinese air force in the months to come:

Characteristics
Length 11.00 m
Wingspan 20.50 m
Height 4.10 m
MTOW 4,200 kg
Maximum external loads 480 kg
Points of Carriage 6
(12 ammo maximum)
Maximum speed 370 km / h
Minimum speed 150 km / h
Ceiling 9,000 m
Endurance 20 hours flight time
Take-off distance 1,000 m
Landing distance 1,200 m
Radius per LOS link 200 km
So who will be this first foreign customer of Wing Loong II according to you? Vote for the one you think is most likely.

Who is the first export client of the Chinese drone Wing Loong II?

China has a new smaller missile for its drones for anti terror operations. And China is also able to network its drones for patrols.

China Unveils New Mini-missile, Targets Foreign Sales

China can now offer users of its combat drones a new missile designed for anti-terrorism operations and low-intensity conflicts.

The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, the country’s largest military drone exporter by number of products sold overseas, said it recently conducted live-fire tests on the AR-2 short-range air-to-surface missile in north-western China.

A CH-4 reconnaissance/combat drone was used in the tests, though the missile can also be mounted on other CH drones, officials said. The academy’s CH-series drones have been sold to military users in over 10 countries.

The missile also can be carried by Chinese attack helicopters and other unmanned aircraft after minor technical modifications, they said.

With a weight of about 20 kilograms and a 5-kg warhead, an AR-2 has a maximum range of 8 kilometers and a top speed of 735 kilometers per hour. It is effective against personnel, armored cars, houses or bunkers, its designers said.

Zeng Like, project manager for the AR-2, said that the academy hopes to win market share from the United States’ AGM-114 Hellfire, widely used in the 1990s and 2000s. At least 29 nations, including Australia, France and South Korea, deploy the Hellfire, according to Jane’s Weapon Systems.

“There are a lot of counterterrorism operations and low-intensity conflicts in the world that create a huge demand for low-cost, high-efficiency weapons to hit cars or light-duty, armored vehicles,” he said. “We believe that most ground targets designated for drones are soft targets or lightly armored vehicles, so using a heavier missile such as the AGM-114 Hellfire for such operations is a waste.”

Smaller, cheaper missiles like the AR-2 are powerful enough to handle those targets, and their lighter weight enables a drone to carry more missiles, Zeng said.

The AR-2’s biggest competitors are the US’ AGM-176 Griffin, currently the best-selling lightweight precision-strike weapon, France’s Lightweight Multirole Missile and Israel’s Whip Shot missile, he said.

But, Zeng said, “the AR-2 features strong capabilities and a lower price, so we are positive it will have good market prospects”.

Many of the academy’s clients now use the bigger, heavier AR-1 missile with CH drones, he said.

In another development, the academy said trainees from one of its foreign clients performed a test in which four CH drones were networked to perform as a fleet.

Ground controllers from the unnamed foreign nation who were trained at the academy guided four CH-4B drones via satellite to work together in a patrol.

Huang Wei, a senior researcher who oversaw the test, said the networking of multiple drones is useful for joint operations in combat. Huang said only China and the US are capable of conducting joint operations using multiple drones.

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Franklin said:

China has a new smaller missile for its drones for anti terror operations. And China is also able to network its drones for patrols.

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As for CH-4s being demonstrated in "swarms" I'd have to express some skepticism as to what that actually means in this case, because the current conops that have been proposed for drone swarms is very different to the mission profile which currently exists for MALE uav/ucavs like CH-4s, until more advanced intelligent autonomous features are developed for them (like auto target tracking and identification, swarm based area and target ISR, and even automated target kill suggestion), which I doubt they would offer for export variant CH-4s just yet even assuming they have even been developed.

I wouldn't be surprised if by "swarm" they just mean a single station controlling a half dozen (edit: four) CH-4s at most for a portion of the mission, like allocating flight profile and mission parameters.

Updated satellite image from the PLAN training site at Huangdicun again shows an UAV (Cloud Shadow ?) at the EMALS teststand.