Chinese UAV/UCAV development
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Our company's technical research and development team of a type of unmanned aircraft has successfully realized the development and first flight of the world's first prototype unmanned early warning aircraft, the aircraft has successfully completed various exercises and collaborative exploration tasks for many times, taking a solid step for the development of China's early warning aircraft industry and the promotion of national defense means!
The team members are the backbone of the system, to meet the demand of radar equipment, based on a type of UAV redesign, successfully improve and realize the domestic first structure load integrated wing skin design technology and domestic first airborne HVDC DC power supply and distribution system design technology, and conquer the complex environment of electromagnetic compatibility design technology.
In 2021, the technology research and development team participated in the drill code-named "XX". Under the superposition of multiple work affairs, the team overcame the practical difficulties such as repeated epidemic situation, manpower shortage, high intensity and high temperature environment, and traveled to several test flight sites to ensure the smooth progress of the mission.In this exercise, a type of unmanned warning system for the first time with a type of warning aircraft, successfully detected the blue air target, project team withstand pressure to meet the challenge, the successful completion of the exercise task, fully demonstrated the rainbow series products advanced and forward-looking, greatly improve the influence of eleven drones and competitiveness.
The subject of the article strongly implies that it could detect low RCS targets.
I think China's long been done developing (completing) the land based networks for countering VLO aircraft. By this I mean properly countering as in extremely long range detection and fire control missile guidance solutions at range. The concepts were revealed nearly a decade ago now and it's been some time since. Maybe they want a space based network as well as the land and probably sea based ones (space would be different series of technologies) and an airborne one as well where the airborne network is based on the same principles as the land/sea based one they've verified and have done years and years of evaluations, improvements, and trialing. Airborne one needs to be heavily unmanned due to economics? Perhaps the same tech put onto Y-20s, Y-8s, Y-9s, and J-16Ds etc is simply prohibitively expensive and there's no reason why they shouldn't be putting it on unmanned if the space and power requirements allow.
As far as this forum understands since the first prototype dedicated anti-stealth radars were revealed, this concept probably involves networking and integrating many different types of radars and then an AI solution layer. Very easily said but pretty much every military enthusiast wouldn't even know where to begin to achieve this apart from "radars/sensors need to overlap and work together and somehow it improves the resolution to the point missiles can be guided".
If that is managed, putting a few dozen dedicated drones for this as an airborne network and CEC all that with the rest of the shooter nodes, that's certainly an improvement on just having a land based one integrated with SAMs and able to deliver early warning info to PLAAF. Use drones rather than existing platforms due to cost and rate of manufacturing. Kinematic performance not really required except loiter time, range, and maybe speed as well to keep up with fighters in ideal use.
Are they forgetting about divine eagle? I don't get this claim about being the first drone AWACS. And divine eagle looks like a more capable platform than this one.
As for why they are going in this direction. Well, drones are more survivable and attritable than a y9. You probably still want a kj500 to command but the drones will be part of your anti stealth network.
As for why they are going in this direction. Well, drones are more survivable and attritable than a y9. You probably still want a kj500 to command but the drones will be part of your anti stealth network.
Divine Eagle is HUGE and a HALE. It's also probably much more expensive as a platform (like using a Y-9 base or Y-20 or J-16 or whatever) compared to this platform. Sure maybe it's entirely okay to integrate this sensor technology onto Divine Eagle UAV but there's a lot more to consider than simply "I have a platform for this already". It could be speed, stealth, or a certain carrying capacity related to the rest of its performance that make other existing platform unsuitable.
Divine Eagle is probably a very different form of AWACS if you can even call it that. In any case, what's being discussed could be AWACS in the sense of KJ series or "AWACS" in the sense of what I suggested in post 5216... in which case, it is nothing like Divine Eagle.
That article was from 2018. A lot can change in 4 years.
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