An Unknown Fastmover UAV Possibly Spotted at Malan AB, China

Jane's ran a preview article this morning about an unknown object, possibly a UAV, at Malan AB this morning.

The link is here:



www.janes.com...

The screenshot is posted because the link went 404 a little while ago.

I did a little asking in other circles and got this:



It looks a bit like the Dark Sword UAV. It might be something else. *IF* (and I stress IF) it is a real uav, it is clearly meant for high speed flight. Far, far more than what we have seen revealed in the West (though there was the SR-72 UAV spotted this past year in FT Worth).

If it is Dark Sword, then it is clearly out in the test phase. If it is something else, then we have a new fastmover UAV on our hands.

HOWEVER! It is REALLY easy to mess with sat images by placing a decoy. So, some skepticism is warranted. Don't gush all over your keyboard just yet. Keep some level of skepticism, folks. OTOH, don't just dismiss it because its Chinese. The laws of physics don't care what color your flag is.

Interesting. However, being that Jane's seems to have pulled the post leaves me with the thought that they wouldn't pull it to help the Chinese keep a secret and that leads me to wonder if they came to suspect the pics? I admit I may not know what I'm talking about

I'm sure there's some ultra-fast drones though and they make perfect sense.

a reply to: anzha

What's your best guess on the size of that thing ? It doesn't "appear" to be very big, which means not much fuel. So therefor, if a fastmover, it aint going fast for very long

a reply to: anzha
I dont think the Chinese are stupid enough to get caught with something on the runway. They have been pretty offensive with promoting Dark Sword, so if the photo is real the thing is probably it.
But since Janes pulled it, its probably a hoax.

Edit
Also i might be wrong but i dont see this picture matching Malan AB.

a reply to: mightmight

Possibly. Jane's some times pulls things even though they are not hoaxes. I've had normal links about the F-35 go away and then reappear in a few days under a new URL. It's something Jane's does. Remember, they are a for-pay service.

The PLAAF isn't perfect. It does make mistakes. it could also be a decoy, as I noted, just to mess with the USAF. It could also be the dark sword: the hullabaloo over that was June 5th. The photos snapped by Digital Globe were on June 7th and June 10th. The timing is interesting.

As for size, the joint wing Soar Dragon UAV is next to the new triangular uav is 47 ft long. I'd ball park around 35 ft for the new UAV. That's a plus or minus of 5 ft, imo, since we can't tell how closely they are lined up, etc.

Myself I would say some of them are decoys. Look at the top four, wing shadow off the wing leading edges. The next 6 nothing, the triangular nothing the next one nothing. Then the bottom one wing shadow again. For me I would like a look through a glass at the original image.

notice the one the grey one in the middle there it looks like it's painted painted silhouette on the concrete because it has no shadow hehe

Then the other back part of it is just staged...or staging area for mules to start the turbines with and carts there

a reply to: anzha

I've seen this at another location in West China at a Mountain Complex that needs routine checks. Keeps changing as their are new exotic craft at this location (J20's, Drones and another Fighter I can't identify that has a
runaway-taxiway into a Mountain with appears to be a self contained Nuclear powered complex on the other side. Clearly there are tunnels.

**copy and paste coordinates**
38.4838119, 106.0263705
38.4838119, 106.0263705

a reply to: anzha

For some reason the one to the right of it looks familiar as well kind of reminds of the photo concepts of the RQ180

Also came across this today on twitter

a reply to: Woody510

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING??

a reply to: Woody510

Woody, unfortunately, that pic is an old photoshop. it's really cool, but...alas.

As for the shadows, you guys could be right. It could also be a case where the images are stitched together as the satellite passed overhead. I've seen other sat images look really funky in that way which are of white world things, even just cars around office buildings.

I would lean to the new aircraft, but I am not religious about it. I think its interesting even if they are trolling the USAF.

a reply to: anzha

Ah my bad!

a reply to: kingofyo1

It was apparently their stealth bomber the H20 but anzha just said its a fake pretty good one though

a reply to: Woody510

I've been taken in on things before.

This one has been floating around for a few years. It's a VERY good fake and really awesome. Kudos to whomever made it. However, like the infamous April 1st Russian flying wing of 1995 (usenet, rec.aviation.military, author Sergei, he confessed it was a prank, if you can find a good archive), this too has turned out to be a not real.

IF the image is of a real aircraft, then it is not the Dark Sword. The Dark Sword is supposed to be a fighter aircraft capable of air combat maneuvering with some low observable characteristics. Since it would have to pull ≈ 7
gs it has large control surfaces, such as rudder, canards, etc. None of those are visible in the image.

The image appears to be of an essentially pure delta planform with a length to wingspan ratio of about 3, and with small, wing tip rudders. That all suggests it's optimized for high speed cruise at about Mach 3. The relatively small size does suggest that it's a UAV. The fact that it is parked on the flight line with other, conventional UAVs suggests that its an air breather (as opposed to a boost-glide vehicle).

Put it all together and it suggests a UAV with SR-71 type cruise performance, but relatively short range/endurance (unless the Chinese have perfected UAV air to air refueling). Maybe to be able to overfly China's neighbors that it wants to keep an eye on; Taiwan, Korea, India.

As a a reply to: anzha

a reply to: Bigburgh



These are the only fighters I have found in the area and they are closest to the right arrow rather than the left. They look like old migs, save for the tails.

The second arrow just seems to be pointing at a mining operation of some kind.

a reply to: 1947boomer

Probably agree, but I wonder about the quality of the imagery. Shadows and a lack of detail can distort important details.

it does look similar to a D-21 drone though.

a reply to: anzha

From elsewhere, I was shared this:



The size is wildly wrong for the Malan Triangle. However, the planform is not.

Could the Malan Triangle be a scale demonstrator?

or this could be wild horse pucky.

originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: Bigburgh

These are the only fighters I have found in the area and they are closest to the right arrow rather than the left. They look like old migs, save for the tails.

The second arrow just seems to be pointing at a mining operation of some kind.

The imagery changes.. so I've screen capped when I see a change. That complex on the backside of the mountain is definitely connected as you can see tunnels on the other side.
Like I said, I've seen this FAST MOVER at this base. Chinese SU-21 variant, J-20 and transport craft.

Here's an older cap..
ATS is under repair and I'm unable to upload pictures

As you said, another tail. Would love to know everything about this base.👍