by78
General
A nice magazine scan of CH-7.
CH-7 in a group photo. It gives you a good idea of its size. The development team numbers only 40 people, with an average age of only 33.
Chinese UCAV/CCA/Loyal Wingman (sensor, A2A and A2G) thread
- Thread starter VESSEL
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CH-7 in a group photo. It gives you a good idea of its size. The development team numbers only 40 people, with an average age of only 33.
Source videoWZ-9 spotted. Not sure when the image was taken.
Actually Yankee states clearly in the podcast that there will be a CCA type drone specified for A2A/dogfight in China's 6gen system. So after the CAC/SAC 6gen program revealed I'm thinking, what would a dogfighting drone be? Imagine it can do stable turn in 20G. It actually required very high lift-drag ratio, which means it would be a very efficient lifting body design. Lifting body, canard, LERX, double delta, everything.
It'll probably also be huge, since J-36 seems designed for extremely long legs, accompanying UAVs will need to at least match it in flight duration to provide continuous coverage.
by78
General
An unmanned early warning UAV for aircraft carriers:
It just occurred to me that this carrier based early warning UAV sure resembles the Jetank UAV recently shown at Zhuhai. The illustration even appears to hint at a modular payload bay.
Hope we see and hear more of this drone this year. Probably, at least for me, the most intriguing drone that's been shown given it's size, various payloads it can carry, and modularity.It just occurred to me that this carrier based early warning UAV sure resembles the Jetank UAV recently shown at Zhuhai. The illustration even appears to hint at a modular payload bay.
? What are you talking about.
This is from a series of studies of an tailless aerodynamic model that we've known about for the last few years.
They have never been specifically tied to a specific designation or role yet, unless new information has emerged (which your picture has not indicated).
I thought I saw a placeholder CCA depiction use a flying wing layout very similar to the above (granted it could be GJ-11) used in a SAC graphic which showed this CCA next to the 6th gen manned platform. Since the manned aircraft (assuming what was shown in 2024 was the manned aircraft) is actually identical to the graphics that were hinted at years before, perhaps there is some credence to SAC's teacup CCAs they keep talking about actually being this flying wing design. This was from a study but it was from a study that included another aircraft which resemble SAC's manned aircraft.
We also know that the CAC 6th gen isn't making its way onto future carriers but SAC's 6th gen may be. All carrierborne CCA, unmanned strike and loyal wingman platforms have been depicted as various flying wing designs. We have always assumed GJ-11 navalised variant to be the first unmanned strike platform to become carrierborne. It's a stretch for now but they could potentially have been showing CCA supporting 5th generation and next generation carrierborne fighter.
We also know that the CAC 6th gen isn't making its way onto future carriers but SAC's 6th gen may be. All carrierborne CCA, unmanned strike and loyal wingman platforms have been depicted as various flying wing designs. We have always assumed GJ-11 navalised variant to be the first unmanned strike platform to become carrierborne. It's a stretch for now but they could potentially have been showing CCA supporting 5th generation and next generation carrierborne fighter.