Chinese UAV/UCAV development

free_6ix9ine said:

In terms of traditional metrics like range, payload, stealth etc. The TB-2 is pretty low end compared to something like the jet powered stealth CH-7. However, I do think this conflict has proven that small drones are pretty difficult to shoot down even for a decently sophisticated system like the S-300.

In my opinion, a swarm of small fast moving low flying drones can even be more deadly than one or two large stealth drones. It will be super difficult for even the most sophisticated Sam system to detect shoot down for example 100 micro drones flying as a loose swarm at less than one or two hundred feet above the ground at near Mach speed.

Same goes for ballistic missiles. THAAD or S-300 can probably do a decent job of shooting down a ballistic missile, but they would be completely useless against micro done swarms.

Click to expand...

The TB-2 has also got quite a lot of composite components so it has a rather low RCS. As for micro drones most anti-air systems are optimized to filter out objects that are flying too slow so as to not include birds as their targets. Electro-optical targeting systems can intercept small drones for sure but still it is quite wasteful to spend a rather expensive missile to intercept a drone that is probably much cheaper than the missile itself.

AssassinsMace said:

Now that's more like it. I'm getting tired of seeing just surveillance drones.

Click to expand...

This looks bad ass. But is it really practical?

tupolevtu144 said:

The TB-2 has also got quite a lot of composite components so it has a rather low RCS. As for micro drones most anti-air systems are optimized to filter out objects that are flying too slow so as to not include birds as their targets. Electro-optical targeting systems can intercept small drones for sure but still it is quite wasteful to spend a rather expensive missile to intercept a drone that is probably much cheaper than the missile itself.

Click to expand...

Yeah for sure. Would missiles be even effective against a large spread out drone swarm? Even if you can target it with camera based targeting system, but you would need many missiles and many targeting systems working in tandem to shoot down 1000 microdones. It would not be scalable.

On the hand the number of drones in your swarm is very scalable. I believe both DARPA and China are researching in this area. The main problem is computing power and software. How do you control thousands of drones flying together? It would definitely have to be some sort of autonomous follow the leader type of algorithm where each drone communicates with its nearest drone and mirror's it's movement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan drone war kind of validates my the theory that I wrote before on this forum. China shouldn't get tunnel vision on investing in big ticket items like J-20 or Aircraft Carriers or large DDGs, etc. These are ultra expensive toys that you can drive around to intimidate 3rd world nations. But instead, focus on assassins mace weapons like microdones, direct energy weapons, space planes, hypersonic missiles, etc.

These are the things that will provide an edge because the enemy doesn't know how to counter them. Does anyone really think the USAF hasn't trained to fight stealth fighters or USN aircraft carriers? This is all old stuff.

China needs to plan to fight the next war not the last war.

every war had an assasins mace weapon that gave massive advantage to the initial user.

WW1: machine guns

WW2: aircraft carrier

Korean war: Swept wing fighter jet mig-15

Vietnam war: surface to air missiles

Gulf War-GPS

etc.

^Sounds like magic thinking to me to imagine any one system, let alone platform, is a silver bullet solution.

Drones are only an issue because they are new and most nations have not invested in specific defences against them. China has.

Modern AESA radars are more than capable of spotting drones, AESA are also useful in countering drones as most already have designed in offensive EW capabilities that can literally fry the radio receivers on unhardened commercial drones. With commercial drones can also easily counter
them with specific frequency jamming. Not ideal in modern urban areas, but completely viable in the wilderness of the China-India boarder regions.

Dissimilar drone strikes like those carried out by Iran are only viable because of a lack of specific defences and close proximity to high value targets. None issues in China’s case.

If and when drones become a standard part of modern militaries, you will see anti-drone systems get deployed as standard just as anti-air defences are organic parts of modern military formations.

But most of this is moot in the case of China because India has thus far demonstrated minimal capabilities with drones in the boarder regions. Whereas it is China that is actually deploying drones in the region right now.

Remember those drones delivering meals to PLA soldiers? They look to be similar if not the same model as pictured above with automatic grenade launchers.

The food delivery looks to just be a cover to field test them in the local environment to me.

If a shooting war happens, it will be the Indians who will be getting swarmed by drones at all levels, and unlike China, I have not seen India deploy or purchase any specific anti-drone systems.

AR-500C video.

read this img again after few years
Armenia，what r u waiting 4

j818cm said:

read this img again after few years
Armenia，what r u waiting 4
View attachment 64129

Click to expand...

Can you guys please leave out Armenia!

China Focus: China's Wing Loong-2 UAV completes emergency communication exercise

BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The China-developed Wing Loong-2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has completed the country's first large UAV-supported emergency communication exercise, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), its developer, announced Saturday.

The Wing Loong-2 successfully completed the communication support exercise mission, which was directed by the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM), flying continuously for around 20 hours across three provinces, according to the AVIC.

This exercise verified the high reliability and adaptability of the Wing Loong-2 in complex environments, especially its communication support capability as a large unmanned aerial communications platform in extreme conditions, the AVIC said.

In the early morning of Sept. 29, the UAV took off from Anshun, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, and headed to Muli County, in Sichuan Province, in the southwest of the country.

It successfully accomplished 20 hours of round-the-clock flight and communication support operations amid moderate rain and other adverse weather conditions.

During the exercise, the Wing Loong-2 supported the communication provider China Mobile by tackling harsh communications challenges at simulated disaster sites featuring damaged roads, blackouts and network outages.

Indigenously developed by the AVIC, Wing Loong-2 is a multi-purpose UAV platform with superb multi-sensor fusion capability, as well as stable performance and mature technologies.

The exercise was directed by the MEM and conducted by the AVIC, together with China Mobile (Chengdu) Industrial Research Institute and multiple other organizations.

It included a simulated forest-fire site in Muli County, a mountainous region where a forest fire this spring scorched about 270 hectares and caused causalities.

Establishing stable and smooth telecommunications has proven to be essential for emergency rescue missions in remote and hard-to-reach regions, such as those with mountainous forests.

With the combination of public and dedicated networks, innovative technologies such as broadband and narrowband integration, as well as integrated space-air-ground communications, the Wing Loong-2 provides a new solution for emergency rescue operations.

Test results from the exercise show that the UAV provided clear images, complete radar data and precise aerial maps. It supported real-time audio and video communications between rescue sites and the command center, facilitating real-time and efficient command, according to the AVIC.

Aviation emergency rescue has the unparalleled advantages of rapid response, high mobility and wide rescue range. The exercise helped to meet the needs of the national emergency rescue system and the national natural disaster prevention and control system.

The AVIC will spare no effort to support the MEM in enhancing the national aviation emergency rescue system and capacity, said the state-owned plane maker. Enditem

Video：