Recently, China Aerospace Science and Industry Group announced that the WJ-700 Falcon high-altitude high-speed UAV developed by the Third Affiliated Hospital has signed an international order of 654.38 billion yuan. This is the first time that this advanced drone has been publicly exported since its birth. In addition, the prestigious domestic Rainbow -4 inspection and combat integrated drone also broke the news that on August 365.438+0, a sales order of 654.38 billion US dollars had been signed.
Judging from the published information, the above two advanced UAVs with different positioning are all from the same customer country. It can be seen that the performance of Chinese drones is becoming more and more advanced, and the combat field has been further expanded. Not only has the low-speed inspection and attack integrated UAV powered by propeller achieved good export results, but the new high-speed UAV has also begun to enter the international stage.
Domestic Rainbow -4 UAV signed for export.
Around 20 10, China launched two series of armed drones, Pterosaur and Rainbow, which are typical models with low speed, high altitude and long endurance, and can find ground targets and strike them accurately.
From the experience of 202 1 Libya battlefield, the performance of Pterosaur and Rainbow is excellent (Saudi Arabia provided Pterosaur II UAV imported from China to Libyan tribal armed forces it supported, and successfully suppressed Turkish TB-2 equipped by its opponents in actual combat).
On the battlefield in Ukraine in 2022, the Ukrainian army violently attacked the fragile logistics forces lacking air defense firepower with a small amount of TB-2 equipment in the early days, forcing the Russian army to abandon the northern front. After that, the Ukrainian army seized the opportunity that the number of Russian Orion integrated drones was limited and real-time air information was not grasped in time, and frequently attacked Russian ammunition depots, airports, warehouses and other fixed targets by using the Hippo high-mobility precision rocket launcher provided by the United States, once again demonstrating the important value of integrated drones.
The TB-2 UAV of the Ukrainian army played an important role in the war situation.
Of course, the Russian army is not an idle generation. Although it is temporarily unable to purchase advanced military drones from the international market, it has obtained hundreds of armed drones from Iran by taking advantage of its good relations with Iran. Of course, Russia has also paid a certain price for these drones, that is, more than 20 Su -35S fighters and help Iran launch satellites.
Because Iran has always attached great importance to the development of UAVs, and even obtained the UAV technology of the US military through secret channels, it has shown a high level of technology in inspecting and attacking integrated UAVs. It is said that in the battlefields of Africa and the Middle East, Iranian armed drones performed better than Turkish TB-2. Perhaps this gain of the Russian army will play a certain role in the battlefield situation.
There are many types of drones in Iran. The picture shows the Ababil -5 drone.
In Libya and Ukraine, two battlefields with completely different combat modes, all kinds of drones have demonstrated their outstanding combat effectiveness to a great extent. As a North African country with relatively rich oil and gas resources and relatively rich economy, Algeria has always attached importance to national defense construction, and its three armed forces are in a leading position in North Africa. Naturally, the procurement and use of advanced drones will not be ignored.
As early as 20 16, Algeria purchased a batch of Rainbow -4 from AVIC, and praised its performance after practical use, and then introduced the second and third batches one after another.
Later, Algeria took a fancy to Pterosaur II with the same excellent performance, and introduced 24 at a unit price of $5 million, thus becoming a country equipped with both Rainbow and Pterosaur UAVs, which is extremely rare in the world.
Pterosaur II is also an excellent model.
In the latest batch of official export orders of Rainbow -4, it is mentioned that the buyer once bought Rainbow -4, and the newly purchased Rainbow -4 is an improved version with satellite communication equipment. As early as 20 18, China cooperated with Algeria in the field of communication satellites. Therefore, a reasonable guess is that the buyer of this new order for Rainbow -4 with a value of 1 billion dollars should be Algeria.
Due to the increasingly important role of UAV in the modern battlefield, it is indeed necessary to upgrade the equipment scale, enhance the long-range communication and strike capability, and build a modern combat system more suitable for future wars. Of course, because Algeria has equipped many advanced UAVs in China before, after receiving these improved models of Rainbow -4, it can completely upgrade the related technologies of the original UAV fleet, which is beneficial to both sides.
Domestic Rainbow -4 is exported to many countries and regions.
With the increasing tactical role of reconnaissance and attack integrated UAV, the armies of various countries are constantly developing targeted countermeasures. In particular, the traditional reconnaissance and strike integrated UAV mostly uses propeller power, and its low flight speed has become a very obvious defect, and it has almost no evasive ability against various surface-to-air missiles.
In fact, according to the latest report of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian army has destroyed more than 1840 drones on the battlefield in Ukraine. Although this figure is not short of water, even if the water is squeezed out, including the simple model of the transformation of civil drones, it is not a small number. It can be seen that although drones are widely used and powerful, their survivability in modern battlefields is indeed poor.
China, as a big country and power of unmanned aerial vehicles, has been keenly aware of this problem for a long time, and has launched a new generation of armed unmanned aerial vehicles with groundbreaking significance.
The wreckage of Ukrainian TB-2 drone shot down by Russian troops
At the Zhuhai Air Show in September, 200211UAV model made in China was made public, with a very stealthy appearance. The special identity displayed on the same stage as J -20, Yun -20 and Zhi-20 aroused people's strong interest in this advanced UAV.
There is not much official information, but a description that has attracted much attention is that it can accurately attack enemy deep targets.
This means that when the traditional armed UAV is still carrying out low-intensity and long-life tasks, it has been able to carry out deep attack tasks in high-intensity battlefields with two stealth bomb bays and can carry eight bombs-1 1, and its survivability is unmatched by the traditional armed UAV. However, the attack-1 1 adopts the whole design including advanced stealth coating, which makes the cost high. Considering the confidentiality and other issues, it will not be exported for a short time.
Attack-1 1 Built-in stealth bomb bay.
In addition to the high-end design of stealth design to improve the battlefield survivability, there is a relatively simple design idea, which is to improve the flight speed of drones, thus enhancing the ability to deal with various types of surface-to-air missiles. At the Zhuhai Air Show in 20 18, the domestic WJ-700 Falcon high-speed UAV model was unveiled, and the aircraft completed its first flight in 202 1, 1 and1two years later.
According to the data given at the air show, WJ-700 Falcon has a maximum takeoff weight of 3.5 tons and a maximum flying time of 20 hours. It uses a turbojet engine and already belongs to the category of large drones. Due to the novel overall design, it can carry a variety of ammunition and carry out tasks such as attacking the ground, attacking the sea and anti-radiation strike. It is an advanced high-speed reconnaissance and strike integrated UAV adapted to modern high-intensity battlefield.
WJ-700 Falcon high-altitude high-speed UAV with turbojet engine.
As for the WJ-700 Falcon export project with a contract price of 654.38 billion yuan, according to official information, Algeria, which still has certain financial resources and attaches great importance to drones and has purchased Chinese drones many times, has once again become the first international buyer to eat crabs.
This means that Afghanistan will be able to form a powerful armed drone force with WJ-700 Falcon, Rainbow and Pterosaur as the core.
After the satellite communication link is opened in the formation, WJ-700 Falcon can give full play to its high-speed reconnaissance ability and transmit reconnaissance information through satellite data link. In this way, in the whole system, the WJ-700 Falcon flying at a high speed provides forward detection, while the Rainbow and Pterosaur flying at a low speed for a long time choose the opportunity to launch a strike according to the obtained target information.
The WJ-700 Falcon carries a variety of weapons.
At present, Algeria has purchased hundreds of armed drones and ordered Rainbow -4 with a value of 654.38+0 billion US dollars (about 690 million yuan at the current exchange rate). The unit price is estimated to be around 5 million US dollars, but there are actually only more than 20. In contrast, the unit price of WJ-700 Falcon will definitely be significantly higher than that of Rainbow -4, and the total procurement cost is RMB 654.38+0 billion. After considering the expenses of training, supporting facilities and ammunition, you can only buy about 654.38+00.
From this point of view, although Algeria hopes to achieve a leap in the combat effectiveness of UAV combat system by purchasing WJ-700 Falcon, it has not been tested in a wider range of actual combat, so its attitude is still cautious. For our country, once the performance of WJ-700 Falcon is tested by international buyers and even foreign battlefields, it is logical to upgrade the self-use model to support stealth attacks-1 1 or expand international exports.
Chinese drones have formed a family with rich models.
In addition, although Algeria seems not well-known, it has invested a lot of money in the field of military equipment rich in oil and gas resources. Equipped with only 70 Russian-made Su -30MKA fighters, it is the fourth largest Su -30 fleet in the world after Russia, India and China. However, with the decline of Russian aviation industry, Algeria has indicated that it will not purchase Su -35S with poor radar and avionics performance, and the rumored Su -57 procurement case has been delayed.
In this case, once the UAV combat system formed by WJ-700 Falcon and Rainbow -4 is recognized by China, it will further enhance the reputation and status of aviation equipment in China.
It is not impossible for three generations of semi-J-10CE, the air police -500E that has already appeared at the air show, and even the J -35 stealth fighter under development to enter the Algerian Air Force in the future, which will be a key breakthrough for AVIC to expand its foreign trade.