Interesting Chinese UAV Pix

a reply to: thebozeian

You missed another one. The Chinese are coming out swinging. My bet is they are taking a shot at us to tell us to knock off certain things. I...doubt that is working well right now.

a reply to: anzha

I'd sell my soul for a good long look behind the green door.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: anzha

I'd sell my soul for a good long look behind the green door.

The question is whether you’d rather see Russia or Chinas secret jewels? I’m thinking I’d go with China they’re defienently trying to assert AirPower these days, be very interesting to see what they have in the pipe....


I’m actually a little surprised that China is going so hard on the unmanned front. What’s there average pilot flight time per month or year these days for the PLAAF? Slightly off topic but I’d be interested to know how that trend relates to there adoption of more unmanned systems.

P.S. Welcome back IntelGirl! Glad to see you back on our little corner of the interwebs!

a reply to: BigDave-AR

China. Russia has some interesting stuff going on, but China is pushing a lot harder and probably has more.

it would be interesting to know if China has any new or upcoming high speed data satellites coming online soon.


i would bet they can already do some stuff over sat but if they are going all drone or want a better connection they will need some new sats

a reply to: thebozeian
it is a suspect image, if you use the scale you have trees with roughly 6mtr wide canopy thats many years worth of growth blocking the entrance unless the aircraft where just hoisted into place. also the painted path, cycle or foot path?

but China is pushing a lot harder and probably has more.

China is ahead with its hypersonics programs in a big way and they dont look like slowing down..

originally posted by: penroc3
it would be interesting to know if China has any new or upcoming high speed data satellites coming online soon.


i would bet they can already do some stuff over sat but if they are going all drone or want a better connection they will need some new sats

I’m not sure if China is quite to the point of needed a lot of sats dedicated to comm for unmanned systems as they’re not quite to the point of deploying them all around the globe like us but I could be completely off. I’m sure if they don’t have them now that they’re high on the priority list seeing as the seem to be putting a lot of eggs in the unmanned basket.

First thing I thought when I looked at the second pic with the black "arrowhead" craft, is how did it get there and, more importantly, if it were a flight test craft, how does it get out? There doesn't seem to be any gap large enough for it to be towed or taxied off that pan.

Edit to add..... I know, cunning chinese have a VTOL UAV now!

a reply to: suicideeddie

It's an RCS range.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: suicideeddie

It's an RCS range.

Almost looks like an elevated rail they put the plane on to do the RCS at different distances from the TX/RX horns/dishes, the plane appears to be higher than the treetops and looks upside down to me, which makes some sense as I think we also put them upside down on an RCS test stand upside down for some tests.

originally posted by: anzha
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.

The centre fuselage looks triangular shaped. Then there are engine ducts at the back of the wings. It's 3/5ths the size of the fighter plane.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

In my opinion and it is only my opinion, the PLAAF has realized, like we have, when the ball drops, there is going to be a buzzsaw through the experienced pilots. The time to replace a pilot isn't quick. So, the best way to mitigate that is to have unmanned systems. They act as either loyal wingmen or on their own. Are they as effective? Probably not. But something 60% as effective is infinitely better than nothing.

Additionally, I would also expect them to work on their systems just to get the experience. Like carriers, it takes time to get the experience to do more than just Predator level ops.

BEsides, UCAV tech is progressing and if you start late, then it might be you have a massive delay before catching up in a very inconvenient time.

What surprises *ME* is that the Russians are lollygagging around when UAVs would solve a lot of their issues: demographic and otherwise.

a reply to: stormcell

Fighter plane looks to be a Su-27 derivative. IDK why I thought otherwise earlier.

Why would you have a bunch of large trees around an RCS pylon? The shadows suggest they are much taller than the aircraft.

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
Why would you have a bunch of large trees around an RCS pylon? The shadows suggest they are much taller than the aircraft.

Not to my eye, granted I’m no photo ananylst but the trees appear lower to me.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

It looks like one is fixed and one is variable. They're testing whatever is under the wings of the J-15 on that one it looks like.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: BigDave-AR

It looks like one is fixed and one is variable. They're testing whatever is under the wings of the J-15 on that one it looks like.

The conventional fighter looks higher than the trees though no?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

They both do to me.

originally posted by: anzha
What surprises *ME* is that the Russians are lollygagging around when UAVs would solve a lot of their issues: demographic and otherwise.

Maybe they'll explore some joint ventures with the Chinese (who apparently have no shortage of funding and determination).