Chinese UAV/UCAV development
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I listened to this interview given to CH series representative at Zhuhai 2018 airshow regarding the capabilities of CH-7.
It has 13t make takeoff weight, 22m wingspan, max speed of mach 0.75 and cruising speed of mach 0.6. It is said to have 15 hours endurance (which would work out to 11000km at mach 0.6!, maybe 5000 km range?). The frontal RCS is designed to be 0.01 sqm. It can carry AShMs, PGMs, AGMs and ARMs. It can carry 2t of payload internally. Here is the kicker, it's designed to hold 2 turbofan engines with total thrust of 10t. It would probably have to be non-AB version of WS-12.
To me, that seems to be way too much power and T/W ratio for an aircraft that can only carry 2t of payload and not that much larger than GJ-11 (which only uses 1 non-AB WS-13 I think). And the T/W ratio is too good to only be able to reach mach 0.75. Another problem is that they were still using ground station to control it rather than manned aircraft. So, I don't really see CH-7 meeting PLAAF requirement.
Having seen CH-7 specs, I think GJ-11 is not good enough for the UCAV you want to pair with J-20. It's a good first step and stealthy enough (probably stealthier than CH-7). However, I think the next generation UCAV would need improvement in stealth and payload. Maybe they can improve frontal RCS to 0.001 sqm against L to X band radars and be powered by 1 uprated non-AB WS-10 engine (around 9t thrust). Ideally, it would have 2 to 3t of payload and higher max/cruising speed than CH-7. I don't know if it needs 15 hours of endurance. Even 10 hours of endurance at cruising speed and 2t payload would be plenty enough.
It has 13t make takeoff weight, 22m wingspan, max speed of mach 0.75 and cruising speed of mach 0.6. It is said to have 15 hours endurance (which would work out to 11000km at mach 0.6!, maybe 5000 km range?). The frontal RCS is designed to be 0.01 sqm. It can carry AShMs, PGMs, AGMs and ARMs. It can carry 2t of payload internally. Here is the kicker, it's designed to hold 2 turbofan engines with total thrust of 10t. It would probably have to be non-AB version of WS-12.
To me, that seems to be way too much power and T/W ratio for an aircraft that can only carry 2t of payload and not that much larger than GJ-11 (which only uses 1 non-AB WS-13 I think). And the T/W ratio is too good to only be able to reach mach 0.75. Another problem is that they were still using ground station to control it rather than manned aircraft. So, I don't really see CH-7 meeting PLAAF requirement.
Having seen CH-7 specs, I think GJ-11 is not good enough for the UCAV you want to pair with J-20. It's a good first step and stealthy enough (probably stealthier than CH-7). However, I think the next generation UCAV would need improvement in stealth and payload. Maybe they can improve frontal RCS to 0.001 sqm against L to X band radars and be powered by 1 uprated non-AB WS-10 engine (around 9t thrust). Ideally, it would have 2 to 3t of payload and higher max/cruising speed than CH-7. I don't know if it needs 15 hours of endurance. Even 10 hours of endurance at cruising speed and 2t payload would be plenty enough.
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If it's only internally, the payload might be more limited by the size of the weapon bay (maybe can only carry 2 1000kg bomb.
So i write the above section with the goal of figuring out what future ucav looks like.
If 2 ws13s can only create a ucav that carries 2t of payload with cruise speed of mach 0.6), then that's a problem (even if combat radius is 5000 km). We have to wonder what a long range ucav that can accompany h20 would look like. It would probably need 2 ws10s and have combat radius of 4000 to 5000 km. Can it achieve 4t payload? Probably. But unlikely to get 6t.
Similarly, what would a shorter range ucav look like? Will it be more like xq58 or more like gj11 in planform? If a 2 ws13 ucav can only carry 2t in payload, then what could a more well designed ucav with 1 ws10 carry? Does it make sense to have a flywing design in that case? I am really curious to find out what their next domestic ucav look like.
Could they be after short field performance? Extra power would be very handy for that. They can shut down one of the engines after take-off.
If there is no such thing you are right. Such a UAV wouldn't get accepted into the service.
5T thrust with two turbofan engines
@tphuang Do you have any estimate for when your UCAV ideas would enter service with the PLAAF?
Edit: Why are people laughing? It's a serious question. I want to project what the PLA's budget will be at that time and how many it would be able to procure at ~$50 - $100 million prices.
Edit: Why are people laughing? It's a serious question. I want to project what the PLA's budget will be at that time and how many it would be able to procure at ~$50 - $100 million prices.
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It's not clear to me the status of GJ-11. There is a lot secrecy in the program. If it's already in service, I think it's a good first step to try out operational issues with J-20 and AWACS. I'd hope that they have a larger strike UCAV (with 2t payload) ready by the time J-20 two seater joins service (so hopefully 2025). The application of such a platform would be quite limitless. You can have some carry 250 KG PGMs, some carry ARMs, some can mini-UAVs as decoys, some carry MALD type of decoys. Essentially, you have a UCAV that's very stealth, attributable and can overwhelm defense with both decoys, EW pressure, ARMs and glide type of PGMs. Those are kind of the platform you'd use if you want to attack a USN carrier group or a heavily defended air defense air base. In the past, usn always talked about being able to track and engage thousands of target. The solution has always been to overwhelm that with a lot of missiles. Well, if you can use decoys to confuse and waste missiles, then it would be a lot easier to overcome aegis defense. If you can just knock out the sensors on a couple of aaw ships, that would significantly degrade air defense capability of the entire carrier group.
So when they have something this capable, I'd order at least several hundreds of them. Again, I'd think second half of this decade would fit PLA timeline pretty well.
Keep in mind that such a platform would also be a great export product. There is no chance something like this would be offered by US to other countries (with the exception of maybe 5 eyes countries and Israel). Something like FC-31 + stealth UCAV would be a great MUMT option for countries that can afford it. It will also be the first time in China's history that it can offer something in the export market that countries can't offer.
Aside from helping PLAAF, it can be used as a strategic tool.
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Impressive. When I was still in school, the only way for drones to do these aggressive obstacle avoidance was through external positioning system, but it seems that these days the sensors (camera? lidar?) are good small enough and accurate enough to be carried onboard for the forest runs.
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