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China tests drone military supply delivery to troops on disputed islands
CHINA has carried out test flights of unmanned drones to deliver supplies to PLA troops occupying disputed islands in the South China Sea, reports Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.
The drone "built from a modified low-cost fixed-wing plane" can carry 1.5 tonnes of cargo and land on a runway of just 200 metres, according to the Institute of Engineering Thermo physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
It can also use a dirt track or grass field for take off and landing at military facilities that do not have an airfield, the institute said on its website.
It said the AT200 drone had made its maiden flight in Winans, Shanxi province. Pictures show an windowless aircraft shaped like a de Thailand Otter, but smaller.
"This drone has astonishing capabilities for military transport ... [and it] will play an important role in securing military supplies for islands in the South China Sea," the institute said.
With a PT6A turboprop engine made by Pratt & Whitney Canada producing 750 horsepower, the drone can cover a range of 2,000 kilometres.
From Sonya on Hainan Island, the drone could reach the Parcel Islands in an hour, Scarborough Shoal in three hours, the Sprightly Islands in four hours and the southernmost James Shoal in five.
China has built radar stations, missile launch systems, fighter jet hangars and deepwater harbours for its navy ships in the South China Sea in recent years.
But these military facilities depend on external supplies of fuel, food, medicine and other necessities, which are delivered by ship. It can take weeks for supplies to arrive from China in bad weather.
The drone "built from a modified low-cost fixed-wing plane" can carry 1.5 tonnes of cargo and land on a runway of just 200 metres, according to the Institute of Engineering Thermo physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
It can also use a dirt track or grass field for take off and landing at military facilities that do not have an airfield, the institute said on its website.
It said the AT200 drone had made its maiden flight in Winans, Shanxi province. Pictures show an windowless aircraft shaped like a de Thailand Otter, but smaller.
"This drone has astonishing capabilities for military transport ... [and it] will play an important role in securing military supplies for islands in the South China Sea," the institute said.
With a PT6A turboprop engine made by Pratt & Whitney Canada producing 750 horsepower, the drone can cover a range of 2,000 kilometres.
From Sonya on Hainan Island, the drone could reach the Parcel Islands in an hour, Scarborough Shoal in three hours, the Sprightly Islands in four hours and the southernmost James Shoal in five.
China has built radar stations, missile launch systems, fighter jet hangars and deepwater harbours for its navy ships in the South China Sea in recent years.
But these military facilities depend on external supplies of fuel, food, medicine and other necessities, which are delivered by ship. It can take weeks for supplies to arrive from China in bad weather.
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