Chinese UAV/UCAV development
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... what's that??
Allegedly a flying-wing “XX” design made a successful maiden flight in 2012.
A model to test the H-XX configuration, a testbed or just another UAV?
View attachment 45388
FYI the Chinese caption reads "unmanned".
Yes... therefore I thought of a model or another UAV.
"In 2012, the first type of high-speed flying wing UAV "***" in our country made its first successful flight."
Quickie
Colonel
I think Deino was asking whether "it's model to test the H-XX configuration". A small scale model is obviously unmanned like the UAV, but the real sized H-XX prototype won't be unmanned.
If that's what is reported then It's a UAV, not a model of some aircraft.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Remember this a while back?
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Henri K take on the flying wing UAV
CASIC flies its new flying-wing stealth drone
The CASIC group, the main missile of all kinds in the Chinese defense industry, has also embarked on the drone race and remains determined to compete with players already well established in the market such as the aircraft manufacturer AVIC, or yet the other major national aerospace group CASC. According to several official publications published last week, its subsidiary Institute of Aviation Technologies (中国 航天 科 工 飞航 技术 技术 研究院 研究院), better known by its former name of "the 3rd Academy of CASIC", recently flew a new drone "stealth and long endurance".
The press gave some interesting indications on the three flights realized lately but does not contain any image. We learn then that the inaugural flight of the drone called " Tian Ying ", 天鹰 in Chinese which means the eagle of the sky literally, took place "at the beginning of the winter", in other words about the last December, followed by the second flight a month later (January 2018?) and then the third to ten days apart.
The text gives little technical details on this drone, qualified by its builder as being stealthy and long-endurance, but we know, for example, that it took off in a wind force of 3 on the Beaufort scale for its first flight, that its development goes back four years ago, and that 80% of technologies used are new, some of which are unpublished at the "world level".
It is in another article published on the Weixin account of the Hai Ying Institute (海鹰 机电 技术 研究 设计院), export entity of the 3rd CASIC Academy, that the first and only pictures of the drone in question are appeared but blurred.
Flying Wing Stealth UAV "Tian Ying" from the 3rd Academy of the CASIC Group (Photos: CASIC)
We then see a fixed-wing drone, with a span estimated at about 10 to 12 meters and without any empennage, surrounded by the development and test teams. This is obviously a flying-wing drone that is added to the already long list of drones in this category developed by other Chinese institutions.
Given the quality of the images and especially that they were concealed voluntarily, the only point we can say is that the air intake of this Tian Ying would be triangular, as for most stealthy flying wing drones of the world, which is to say that the drone would use a turbofan or turbojet engine. And given the relatively small size of the machine, we tend to a drone dedicated to support tactical reconnaissance and ground surveillance for troops, like the RQ-170 Lockheed Martin, but with a greater autonomy not the 24 hours.
The ground station for the command of the drone Tian Ying (Photo: CASIC)
The old camouflage of an amphibious tank of the Chinese Marine Corps
It is not known for the moment who will be the first customer of the drone, but the text of CASIC mentions that a part of financing comes from the group itself, which implies that the project is at least partially financed by a possible purchaser, which could be one of the Chinese army corps.
And the camouflage of the ground station of the drone, which is close to an old camouflage of the Chinese Marines, could designate the Chinese amphibious forces as the possible interested. But it seems rather unwise to base the conclusion on a physical resemblance of camouflage so this remains to be confirmed.
Aside from the stealth drone, that it has started several development projects around solar drones and "new concept" like those of "Near Space".
Note that the Chinese manufacturer has long experience in the design of air-surface cruise and anti-ship cruise missiles, and has already proposed on the market a wide range of target drones and high-speed drones. One example is .
The fast armed drone WJ-600A / D designed by the 3rd academy of the CASIC group
At the level of the flying-wing drone, one can find for example a university document, published by the same institution in 2015, on . This date is therefore consistent with the planning of the Tian Ying program, where development began four years ago according to the CASIC press release.
After a long list of Chinese Flying Wing UAV projects, such as the Sharp Sword Institute 601 Shenyang (AVIC), Wing Loong X Institute 611 Chengdu (AVIC), CH-805 and CH-X of the Chinese Aerospace Group CASC, the NWPU University Project, and now the Tian Ying of CASIC, the question arises as to who will be the next Chinese institute to work on this segment of very narrow drones.
And if it is NORINCO, the group of land armaments, which has a priori nothing to do with the "sky" ??
Henri K.
CASIC flies its new flying-wing stealth drone
The CASIC group, the main missile of all kinds in the Chinese defense industry, has also embarked on the drone race and remains determined to compete with players already well established in the market such as the aircraft manufacturer AVIC, or yet the other major national aerospace group CASC. According to several official publications published last week, its subsidiary Institute of Aviation Technologies (中国 航天 科 工 飞航 技术 技术 研究院 研究院), better known by its former name of "the 3rd Academy of CASIC", recently flew a new drone "stealth and long endurance".
The press gave some interesting indications on the three flights realized lately but does not contain any image. We learn then that the inaugural flight of the drone called " Tian Ying ", 天鹰 in Chinese which means the eagle of the sky literally, took place "at the beginning of the winter", in other words about the last December, followed by the second flight a month later (January 2018?) and then the third to ten days apart.
The text gives little technical details on this drone, qualified by its builder as being stealthy and long-endurance, but we know, for example, that it took off in a wind force of 3 on the Beaufort scale for its first flight, that its development goes back four years ago, and that 80% of technologies used are new, some of which are unpublished at the "world level".
It is in another article published on the Weixin account of the Hai Ying Institute (海鹰 机电 技术 研究 设计院), export entity of the 3rd CASIC Academy, that the first and only pictures of the drone in question are appeared but blurred.
Flying Wing Stealth UAV "Tian Ying" from the 3rd Academy of the CASIC Group (Photos: CASIC)
We then see a fixed-wing drone, with a span estimated at about 10 to 12 meters and without any empennage, surrounded by the development and test teams. This is obviously a flying-wing drone that is added to the already long list of drones in this category developed by other Chinese institutions.
Given the quality of the images and especially that they were concealed voluntarily, the only point we can say is that the air intake of this Tian Ying would be triangular, as for most stealthy flying wing drones of the world, which is to say that the drone would use a turbofan or turbojet engine. And given the relatively small size of the machine, we tend to a drone dedicated to support tactical reconnaissance and ground surveillance for troops, like the RQ-170 Lockheed Martin, but with a greater autonomy not the 24 hours.
The ground station for the command of the drone Tian Ying (Photo: CASIC)
The old camouflage of an amphibious tank of the Chinese Marine Corps
It is not known for the moment who will be the first customer of the drone, but the text of CASIC mentions that a part of financing comes from the group itself, which implies that the project is at least partially financed by a possible purchaser, which could be one of the Chinese army corps.
And the camouflage of the ground station of the drone, which is close to an old camouflage of the Chinese Marines, could designate the Chinese amphibious forces as the possible interested. But it seems rather unwise to base the conclusion on a physical resemblance of camouflage so this remains to be confirmed.
Aside from the stealth drone, that it has started several development projects around solar drones and "new concept" like those of "Near Space".
Note that the Chinese manufacturer has long experience in the design of air-surface cruise and anti-ship cruise missiles, and has already proposed on the market a wide range of target drones and high-speed drones. One example is .
The fast armed drone WJ-600A / D designed by the 3rd academy of the CASIC group
At the level of the flying-wing drone, one can find for example a university document, published by the same institution in 2015, on . This date is therefore consistent with the planning of the Tian Ying program, where development began four years ago according to the CASIC press release.
After a long list of Chinese Flying Wing UAV projects, such as the Sharp Sword Institute 601 Shenyang (AVIC), Wing Loong X Institute 611 Chengdu (AVIC), CH-805 and CH-X of the Chinese Aerospace Group CASC, the NWPU University Project, and now the Tian Ying of CASIC, the question arises as to who will be the next Chinese institute to work on this segment of very narrow drones.
And if it is NORINCO, the group of land armaments, which has a priori nothing to do with the "sky" ??
Henri K.
The breadth of products and R&D, and the youth (literally) of China's aerospace industry hints at incredible momentum and potential. Whilst the brightest western students aim to work for internet companies, banks and consulting firms. China's aerospace companies seem to be overflowing with young, smart, and innovative employees. I can't help but imagine that the 'Fighter Mafia's' of the 21st Century will come from this mix.
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