Interesting Chinese UAV Pix

I stumbled across a blog that seems to be completely...off base. Politely put. However, in that blog was a post with some very interesting pictures of Chinese UAVs. I am a little unsure of the authenticity of the pix, but...I thought they were well worth posting.



Note the number of the joint wing UAVs. I was under the impression the Chinese had backed off on the program. Assuming the picture is real, this appears to be not the case. There are three here. The blog has a picture of another at another base. And the previous post about the fastmover UAV I did earlier (at a different base) had another. This would indicate the Soaring Dragon MALE UAV is being made at least at a moderate rate rather than abandoned.



The second picture of note is from the Chengdu radar institute.

That's an interesting arrowhead shaped UAV, huh?

It does not look like a Star Shadow (that's a cranked kite). This looks far, far more like ...dare I say it? ... what so many of you call the Companion.

Here's the very less than perfect blog from India about the above:

theprint.in...

a reply to: anzha

Imagine the civilian reaction to that black arrowhead flying over.

Hysteria and panic.

How big is that thing?

a reply to: abe froman

Not very. It looks smaller than the A-12 would have been, although not by much.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Length looks about the same. The wingspan looks shorter: I'd guess 50 feet instead of 70 ft (15 m instead of 21m for our nonYanqi here).

a reply to: anzha

Seeing your companion quote, and this may be off topic, but how many mysterious sightings over the US could have been foreign?

a reply to: anzha

S&F! An actual black triangle. Though if I were China I’d mock up a bunch of crazy aircraft and leave them in the open like this for everyone to see. Kind of like the inflatable aircraft used in WW2.

I want to see it fly!

ETA: What’s the white thing on the rear?

a reply to: RexKramerPRT
None would be my guess. Its one thing to fly a small plane at tree top level to bring drugs in, but another to fly something into our airspace at altitude. Norad or other DoD entities would be aware and the result would not be pretty.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Using the road for scale. (two 12' lanes plus the shoulder is about 30 feet)

I would estimate that thing to be somewhere around 40' x 40' in size. Am I wrong to say that's pretty big for a UAV ?

a reply to: intelgurl

Not been here too long but your username rings a bell so thanks for that.

a reply to: Fallingdown

Depends on the mission. The Global Hawk has a wingspan roughly equivalent to a 737. If it's a MALE, which I'd guess it was with that configuration, it's not that big.

a reply to: RexKramerPRT
It should ring a bell. Intelgurl and ATS go waaay back, been a long time since she has been able to make regular contributions though. Nice to see her around the traps again.

a reply to: anzha

That's about what I was thinking as well.

Is it just me or does that Arrowhead picture look a little too neat and contrived? Awfully nice of the Chinese to place a known aircraft right next to it for size comparison in the middle of the day.

a reply to: thebozeian

I saw her name and had to scroll up to make sure this was a recent thread.

a reply to: thebozeian

The Chinese have started signaling. They are still playing a particular game. We used to do so, too, but I am unsure of now.

What do you think Amarillo and Wichita were for?

a reply to: Zaphod58

What we don't see from the pix - and I know you know this - is what the volume of the aircraft is.

Is it as flat as the Hunter-B the Russians are developing? Or is it thick like the X-47B or the X-44A?

That would tell us what the mission is more.

Also, that might be a scaled model for RCS testing.

a reply to: anzha
Mate I have no doubt this is signaling by the Chinese, that's why they have left as many Soaring Dragon UAV's on display for recon birds to take happy snaps of. What I think however is that this black Arrowhead may be a ruse. Meanwhile they are working on a completely different project or projects from what you see here, that's what my gut is telling me. And as you said we dont know the authenticity of these pics or why they are being released. It is interesting nonetheless.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Bahahaha. Thats exactly what I did too.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks I was just trying to give it some perspective .

A reaper has a wingspan of around 60 feet which is close enough to the picture and your info . But I don't know of any drones that have a expanded fuselage that leads into the wings . ( that's the best I could describe the arrowhead silhouette )

I'm not an expert but to me it looks too big to be a drone. It looks more like a F-117 nighthawk. (I know it's not one)

I don't know near enough about this subject to make a statement I would stand behind .

I'm just spitballing because I'm a little bored . Lol


But I'm willing to learn .

a reply to: Fallingdown

The RQ-170 for operational UAVs. The X-47s for demonstrators. It's not a common design, but it's out there. Darkstar is an interesting design too.