Strange missile !! ... who can identify ?
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Asymptote
Banned Idiot
No, that's the Wu Zhen 5 (WZ-5) UAV, also known as Chang Hong 1 (export name) UAV.
Its a reverse engineered US AQM-34N Ryan Firebee.
Ryan Firebee
"The Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones or unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and one of the most widely-used target drones ever built."
WZ-5 UAV
The Peoples Republic of China is known to have recovered US AQM-34N Firebee units during the Vietnam War era, and reverse engineered it. The Chinese version is known as Wu Zhen 5 (WZ-5), or Chang Hong 1 (export name). [1] The WZ-5 entered service in 1981 and is expected to be replaced by newer UAVs in the near future.
It was widely used in Vietnam war, I think China recovered more than dozens of them according to some magazine articles I read, and was able to reverse engineered from it.
Its mostly used as target drone, and its not "smart" as the definition of "UAV" would imply in modern usage.
Its a reverse engineered US AQM-34N Ryan Firebee.
Ryan Firebee
"The Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones or unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and one of the most widely-used target drones ever built."
WZ-5 UAV
The Peoples Republic of China is known to have recovered US AQM-34N Firebee units during the Vietnam War era, and reverse engineered it. The Chinese version is known as Wu Zhen 5 (WZ-5), or Chang Hong 1 (export name). [1] The WZ-5 entered service in 1981 and is expected to be replaced by newer UAVs in the near future.
It was widely used in Vietnam war, I think China recovered more than dozens of them according to some magazine articles I read, and was able to reverse engineered from it.
Its mostly used as target drone, and its not "smart" as the definition of "UAV" would imply in modern usage.
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Asymptote
Banned Idiot
The picture above is Ryan Firebee - from which WZ-5/Chang Hong 1 was developed from.
Let me put it side by side for you :
WZ-5/Chang Hong 1
Ryan Firebee
Its the same design. I think because the air-intake is obscure from the view that's why it looks a little bit dissimilar.
No ... just as You sayI agree there are some similarities and indeed the intake is a bit obscured, but IMO theses are two completely different designs, the "strange" one I posted very much more like a supersonic design with a scram-jet-like intake, a different tail and tiny wings (or canards ??).Deino
Asymptote
Banned Idiot
Deino
"Scram-jet-like intake"... are you implying this is like the american X-51?! VERY FUNNY
HAHA!!Boeing X-51
NO. that's not a scram-jet intake. I can assure you that's just your normal jet intake.
One thing that's certain, the picture shows the UAV is put alongside Chengdu J-7 for god's sake!! It's sitting in a museum (where they put the old things...?!) somewhere in China! The museum even looks old and dusty like the J-7 it is displaying!
I seriously doubt China had scram-jet technology when they made the J-7. LOL. Its put there alongside J-7 for a reason - because it was developed around the same period. The red letter words that says on the UAV even says "ChangKong-02" (its export name). So it is WZ-5. Ask around. I am pretty sure someone here from China can even identify which museum this is from, and they can probably even go there and take a photo of the description from the display!
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