Meet China's New Spy Plane (With An Austrian Body)

Meet China's New Spy Plane (With An Austrian Body)

That's a funky looking plane. Reminds me of a mosquito.

The article says that China will be using these for maritime patrol and oil spills?

I didn't know China had so many oil spills. lol

Anyone have any more info?

CSA-003 Scout

CETCS builds the mission avionics for a family of light surveillance planes using the Diamond DA42, the CSA-003 Scout is the ELINT variant. It has electronic signal gathering pods, processing systems, satellite uplinks and options for a nose-mounted infrared/EO camera turret.

Wingtips

Electronic intelligence pods, such as these seen on the J-16 D, intercept enemy electronic signals like radar transmissions, for processing either with the aircraft's computer, or to other networked assets, to better understand and fight hostile electronic activity.

a reply to: grey580

Someone in Reykjavik has one of the diesel-engined DA42's and flies it out of the city airport.

Every time I've heard that thing buzz over Laugavegur and out towards the bay, sounding like a pair of pissed off Jetta TDI's, I find myself coveting it in a way I have never before coveted a prop-powered GA aircraft.

(Well, that's a lie. Raytheon was HQ'd near where I grew up, and I remember seeing all the Beechcraft Starships howling overhead, sounding like giant Cessna Skymasters. The love was real. The first Lake Amphibian that I saw was also up there...)

I clicked on this thread expecting to see a aircraft that lookes like it came from the 22nd century, and one a whole lot bigger and meaner looking than this piddly little thing .

The world powers will still be sleeping soundly in their beds after viewing this

a reply to: stonerwilliam

You'd say that about the U-2 as well and yet...

a reply to: stonerwilliam

It's not so much the plane.

But what it carries.

if you put 4 people in that thing would it fly for more than 10 minutes without needing gas?

a reply to: PhantomTwo

Click the map at your departure point.
Note: Map is not for navigational purposes. Assumes no reserve, no wind, extended range tanks.

Power (%) Range (nm) Time (hrs) Speed (kts)
80 929 5.5 169
60 1110 7.4 150
50 1273 8.78 145

www.diamondaircraft.com...

a reply to: grey580

It looks like it would struggle to carry the weeks shopping home from the supermarket , i have been in the back of things like that buzzing down a grass runway , thinking to myself what the heck am i doing in this pile of crap

a reply to: stonerwilliam

The DA42 MPP achieves a peak range of distance at 1,452km and a maximum altitude of 5,486m. It has a maximum endurance of 12 hours."

www.airforce-technology.com...

900 miles at 18,000 feet, and 12 hour endurance.

a reply to: Zaphod58

that's much better than I ever would have guessed.

a reply to: PhantomTwo

It was designed with an incredibly efficient engine. It burns 10-11 gph depending on power setting.

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: stonerwilliam

It's not so much the plane.

But what it carries.

I take it there will be rip offs of this plane by the thousand on ebay soon knowing the Chinese and what they think of patents and the law

a reply to: stonerwilliam

It's already for sale all over. It's quite popular.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Didn't diamond aircraft go bankrupt fairly recently?

a reply to: Barnalby

No, but they hit some really rough patches and finally killed the D-Jet a couple years ago. They thought they were going to, but managed not to. Unless it was within the last few months.