AVIC unveils two new target drones for sale

Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft maker, has unveiled two new types of target drones for the market.

The CS-550T and CS-300T, developed and built by AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group－an AVIC subsidiary in Sichuan province－have completed test flights and are ready to take orders, said Yang Zhu, an engineer with the company.

The CS-550T has a delta wing shape and features stealth capability and high maneuverability. With all major traits of modern advanced combat aircraft, the drone can be used to simulate various tactical operations to support weapons tests and combat training, Yang said.

The unmanned jet is 4.5 meters long with a wingspan of 5.5 meters. It can carry more than 50 kilograms of mission payloads, including electronic jamming devices and decoy flares.

The drone has a maximum speed of about 860 kilometers per hour, and can remain airborne for over an hour. It has landing gear that allows it to take off and land on its own. It can also be launched by rocket boosters and be recovered by parachutes.

By comparison, the CS-300T is traditionally shaped and faster, at 4.7 meters long with a wingspan of 3.4 meters. The drone has a carrying capacity of more than 30 kg and can also fly for over an hour. Without landing gear, it is launched by rocket boosters and retrieved by parachutes.

Both drone types can endure gravitational acceleration as much as nine times their own weight so they are capable of carrying out sophisticated aerial maneuvers.

"The target drones can enable our weapon system designers to verify their radars' tracking capacity and munitions' strike power," Yang said.

Scaled models of the two new target drones are now on display at an air show held by the People's Liberation Army Air Force in Changchun, Jilin province. The five-day show opened on Friday, with the PLA Air Force's aerobatic teams engaging in stunt performances, attracting a large number of aeronautics fans from across the nation. This was the first public event hosted by the PLA Air Force in three years.

AVIC is a renowned supplier of military drones, with one series proving very popular in the international market, having been exported to many countries.