Chinese UAV/UCAV development
- Thread starter AssassinsMace
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I don't think so. The general theme fits in with the rest of the display board.
Then it is sending a stronger message on the board.
To admit, I'm asking myself if it is indeed a stronger or more a stranger message?
Concerning this project, it is so much mysterious so that in the end we have two possibilities:
Option 1: Some day I wake up without any expectations and the news threads are full of discussions, images and so on since SAC unveiled this beast.
Option 2: Nothing will happen and even in 2025 some nice peoples cheer to the camera with still the old image in the background.
I'm really not sure, what's the more likely option.
vesicles
Colonel
I myself lean towards option 1. In my opinion, they are making a clear statement with this photo. When the Chinese post a holiday group photo, they typically do it in front of their buildings/houses. And they typically show a clear view of the background, be it a nice-looking building or a house. These guys, on the other hand, did it in front of a board and they blocked 90% of the board. The only thing completely visible is the plane. To me, it seems to be a deliberate setup. And that would suggest that they’ve got permission to show it. When a secret military project is allowed to go public in China, it most likely mean that it has matured to a very advanced stage. We might be getting photos and clips of a launch soon? This is all assuming this photo has not been altered in any way...
Would not be surprised if sharp sword is still more of of a concept project acting as a platform to explore and develop different unmanned and autonomous combat systems in roles outside ones that have already been operationalized (especially for A2A missions). Speculative on my part of course, but it’s feeling like SAC has a lot of different mockups going on for a lot of different concept designs that don’t yet have a formal role, but which may come into existence as the PLA continues seeking to expand its capabilities.
I wouldn't be surprised if all of the major institutes have some kind of concept for future A2A UCAVs, the question is whether Dark Sword is something that SAC are specifically actively working on and whether it's at the behest of the PLA or not.
IMO, if this new years picture had emerged alone without any recent indications of Dark Sword being worked on in any form, then I probably wouldn't have put much stock in it.
But of course, this mysterious photo from 2018 (almost certainly a mock up) exists, so unfortunately we don't have the luxury of just dismissing the recent new years photo as something that can be ignored.
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