Chinese UCAV/CCA/flying wing drones (ISR, A2A, A2G)

mack8

Junior Member
Speaking of GJ-X being unmanned arsenal aircrafts for AAMs, similar ideas have indeed been brought up on the other side of the lake just a couple weeks ago:
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So, yes - Something like the GJ-X should be able to carry at the very least a few AAMs inside its IWBs. And given the overall length of the center-body (~22-24 meters), the GJ-X can actually have an IWB that is ~9-10 meters long.

This would mean that a at least couple PL-17s could be fitted inside the GJ-X's IWB. Though, if we want to go further and utilize the full length of the IWB, that would mean XLRAAMs in the high-hundreds of kilometers (>600 kilometers) of maximum strike ranges. Otherwise, a 9-meter long IWB would enable a longitudinal dual-stacking of PL-15/16 LRAAMs.

This hasn't yet touch on the possibility of either a rotary launcher or vertical dual-stacking of AAMs inside the IWB, but that's a discussion for another time.



In the meantime, though - I'd prefer something in between the GJ-11/21 and GJ-X in terms of dimension, MTOW and payload capacity for such roles. This should make the platform not just being a viable and significant upgrade in terms of payload capacity and range/endurance over the GJ-11/21, but also not as expensive and is less prone to attrition than the GJ-X to enable procurement in greater numbers.
GJ-X could potentially also easily carry the notional 1000km range AAM we discussed not long ago, a concept also looked at (and tested?) across the pond recently.
 

ismellcopium

Junior Member
Registered Member
I don’t think it is unmanned H-20 but rather bomber equivalent to CCA that could follow H-20 on long range strategic missions. There are two variants of drone — one to provide ISR and the other to carry additional munition. H-20 will be the control node for the two drones.
Speculative bomber wingman theories aside it seems pretty likely to me this thing will be fully capable of carrying out strike missions on its own by design, ie any possible CCA role being secondary with autonomous strike missions being primary capability rather than other way around. Anything else would make very little sense with (among other things) the number of simultaneous sorties/targets prosecuted being severely limited (by number of available H-20s), crippling the otherwise invaluable 2-3IC strike capability this would afford.
 

Atomicfrog

Major
Registered Member
Looked at yes, though I don't think they have actually tested such missiles.

Anyway... you need to lock targets and at this range and it will be quite hard.

Maybe it could be done by data link with support aircrafts closer to the target to get it home. In that case, being stealthy is not a big gain with a 1000km AAM, an H6 would do the trick in most cases.

A see a CCA launched far from land from a H6 with a couple of shorter range missiles way better than a huge missile on an expensive rig with support aircrafts in the kill zone.
 

iewgnem

Senior Member
Registered Member
Like this

3Y5wBUD.png




You have done a poor job of overlaying it. You need to make sure it's precise. Use transparency tools to make it more accurate if needed.

View attachment 162953
As I said if you want to compare two measures you need to use the same process and same tools and/or know the tolerance.
Using the same overlay method via GE you get 44.5m wingspan for both, with unknown tolerance but probably +/- 1m
In other words either both are closer to 46m or both are closer to 40m
You can't simply compare measures by one party using one tool against measures by another party using another tool.
Capture5.JPGCapture6.JPG
 

00CuriousObserver

Junior Member
Registered Member
As I said if you want to compare two measures you need to use the same process and same tools and/or know the tolerance.
Using the same overlay method via GE you get 44.5m wingspan for both, with unknown tolerance but probably +/- 1m
In other words either both are closer to 46m or both are closer to 40m
You can't simply compare measures by one party using one tool against measures by another party using another tool.
View attachment 162963View attachment 162964

That's because you measured the shadow and not the airframe. If you measure the airframe, it comes out to be ~42 and ~45 for B-21

I imagine TWZ also measured the airframe itself. You can make a case for either but at this point we're limited by the quality of the images and should just leave it at that. When newer and more precise information comes out, we can update our understanding.

1760987767279.png
 
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