Why do drones in China look more like kites?

UAV UAV UAV is an unmanned aerial vehicle controlled by radio remote control equipment or its own program control device. It first appeared in the 1920s, when it was used to train drones. It is a term used by many countries to describe the latest generation of drones. Literally, this term can describe cruise missiles developed from kites and radio-controlled aircraft to V-/KLOC-0 missiles, but in military terms, it is limited to reusable aircraft heavier than air.

Uav has a wide range of uses, low cost and good cost-effectiveness ratio; No risk of casualties; Strong viability, good mobility and convenient use. It plays an extremely important role in modern wars and has a broader prospect in the civil field.

The rapid development and wide application of UAV was after the Gulf War. Western countries, led by the United States, fully realize the role of drones in the war and compete to apply high technology to the research and development of drones: new wings and lightweight materials have greatly increased the endurance of drones; Adopt advanced signal processing and communication technology to improve the image transmission speed and digital transmission speed of UAV. Advanced autopilot makes the UAV no longer need land-based TV screen navigation, but fly to the hovering point according to the program, change the altitude and fly to the next target. The new generation of unmanned aerial vehicles can be launched and recovered from various platforms, such as ground vehicles, ships, planes, suborbital aircraft and satellites. The ground operator can check its program through the computer and change the course of the drone as needed. Other more advanced technical equipment, such as advanced eavesdropping equipment, radar that penetrates leaves, and micro spectrometer equipment that provides chemical capabilities, will also be installed on drones.

During the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and even NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, drones were frequently used to perform military tasks. Although UAV is not the main force to perform air missions over the battlefield, it has also become an indispensable part. Because unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are unmanned, they can be sent to perform tasks in dangerous environments without worrying about casualties. Therefore, all major military countries in the world are very fond of the military use of UAVs.

Unmanned aerial vehicles are divided into reconnaissance aircraft and target aircraft.

Reconnaissance plane is used to complete battlefield reconnaissance and monitoring, positioning and shooting correction, damage assessment, electronic warfare, etc.

It can also be used for civil use, such as border patrol, nuclear radiation detection, aerial photography, aerial exploration, disaster monitoring, traffic patrol, public security monitoring and so on.

Drones can be used as targets for artillery and missiles.

The earliest development of drones in history was after World War I, and unmanned drones were used to train anti-aircraft gunners during World War II. After the Second World War, converting more or retired aircraft into special research or target aircraft has become a precedent for the use trend of modern drones. With the development of electronic technology, UAV has begun to show its flexibility and importance in reconnaissance tasks. For example, in the Vietnam War, the United States used a large number of drones to detect high-value or well-defended targets, which could reduce the risk of casualties or capture. From low altitude short battery life to high altitude long battery life.

Old-fashioned UAVs have short air time, low flying altitude, small reconnaissance and monitoring area, and can not continuously obtain information, even causing intelligence "blind spots", which can not meet the needs of modern warfare. To this end, the US Army developed the "Tyre" II ultra-high-altitude, long-endurance UAV.

Develop in the direction of stealth drones.

In order to cope with the increasing threat of ground air defense fire, many advanced stealth technologies have been applied to the development of UAV. First, use composite materials, radar absorbing materials and low-noise engines. For example, the U.S. military "Tyre" II UAV is almost entirely made of graphite composite materials except the main beam, and the engine air outlet and satellite communication antenna are specially designed so that people can't hear it when the flying height is above 300 meters; Above 900 meters, it is invisible to the naked eye. The second is to use the technology of limiting infrared reflection, coat the surface of the fuselage with special coatings that can absorb infrared light, and inject anti-infrared radiation chemicals into the engine fuel. The third is to reduce the cracks on the fuselage surface and reduce the radar reflection surface. Fourth, the charged surface coating also has the characteristics of discoloration: from the ground, the drone is the same color as the sky; Looking down from the air, the drone appears the same color as the earth.

From real-time tactical reconnaissance to airborne early warning.

The US military believes that the aerial reconnaissance system in 2 1 century is mainly composed of drones. The U.S. military plans to replace E-3 and E-8 manned early warning aircraft with early warning drones, making them the main force of aviation reconnaissance in 2 1 century.

Develop in the direction of air combat

Attack UAV is an important development direction of UAV. Because the UAV can be deployed forward in advance, it can destroy the incoming missile far away from the defended target, thus effectively overcoming the shortcomings of long response time, short interception distance and debris damage to the defended target after successful interception. For example, Germany's "Dahl" attack drone can effectively deal with a variety of surface-to-air missiles and open up air passages for its own attack aircraft. Israel's "Habib" anti-radiation UAV has the ability of automatic search, all-weather attack and simultaneous attack on multiple targets.

The United States is one of the major countries that research and develop drones. The US military believes that drones are suitable for the "regional defense strategy" after the Cold War and the need to monitor regional conflicts. In order to improve the real-time reconnaissance capability of the battlefield, the US military has developed and equipped the following UAVs.

"Pioneer" UAV

He fought in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti, Somalia and the Gulf. Power 19 kW, and operational radius is about 185 km. If you stay here for 5 hours, the load of 45 kg includes infrared or electro-optical imaging equipment. Pioneer UAV and E-8C often detect potential high-level targets, and then Pioneer UAV enters the target area for reconnaissance.

Predator drone

Predator hollow endurance UAV with prominent forehead will remain a long-range UAV of the US military for quite some time in the future, mainly used in front-line troops to provide electronic optical and infrared information for Army Brigade and Marine Corps Task Force. 1997 65438+1October 3 1 day, the reconnaissance squadron of the US Air Force in nellis afb was equipped with the first batch of Predator UAVs. It is about 8 meters long, with a wingspan 14 meter, a maximum ceiling of 7,600 meters, a combat radius of 926 kilometers, a longest battery life of 40 hours and a total weight of 204 kilograms. The aircraft is equipped with synthetic aperture radar, electro-optics and infrared sensors, and can take off from airstrips or ship decks without parachutes or arresting cables. This type of aircraft has participated in combat in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a flight record of 2,620 mission hours, which proves its operational value and capability. Predators can see through ground camouflage equipment and camouflage actions, and are suitable for monitoring large-scale important places and detecting any hostile actions. UAV transmits real-time reconnaissance information to joint air operations center or joint intelligence center through satellite system. The US Air Force is preparing to buy 50 Predator drones.

Rq-4

Also known as "Thiel" II, it will become the backbone of the U.S. Army's long-range unmanned aerial vehicle in the early 20th century, and it is a long-range long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle suitable for performing reconnaissance missions in low and medium threat environments. The drone weighs 3.5 tons, has a captain 14 meter, a wingspan of 35 meters and a blank time of 42 hours. The maximum refueling range is 22,500 kilometers and the flying height is 20,000 meters, which can be used for day and night reconnaissance. Rq-4 will be equipped with synthetic aperture radar, infrared and photoelectric sensors. In the search mode, the resolution is 0.9 m, and the reconnaissance capability of fixed-point resolution is 0.3 m ... rq-4 can send back 50 megabytes of data per second, and it can send video images to ground stations in near real time, or directly send SAR data to front-line ground troops. Rq-4 is used for long-range and long-term missions. Including continuous reconnaissance of mobile missile launchers in a large range. The UAV can communicate with the ground station through satellite, command the memorial department far away from the front line, and command the operation. During reconnaissance, UAV can avoid maneuvering and use radar jammer for electronic jamming and deception.

"Dark Star" UAV

Also known as "Thiel”III, it is a stealth drone with high altitude endurance, which is suitable for reconnaissance in high-threat environment. At present, a small amount of production is planned, which is only used for flying over key defense zones. The stealth "Dark Star" UAV does not have the performance and load of the "Global Hawk" UAV, but it has the ability to break through the best air defense system and the best survivability. "Dark Star" UAV has a thin fuselage, long and narrow wings, a combat radius of 926 kilometers, a battery life of 8 hours, and a maximum ceiling of 1.4 million meters. It uses FJ44 turbofan engine. The communication capability of "Dark Star" UAV is limited to 1.5 megabits per second, mainly transmitting fixed-frame images in flight. The characteristics of "Dark Star" UAV are: invisibility, strong survivability, wider range of activities and longer battery life than "Global Hawk". The main difference between the two is that the main task of Global Hawk is to carry out reconnaissance missions over low or medium threat areas, while Dark Star is mainly used to carry out reconnaissance missions over high threat areas.

Pocket UAV

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US Department of Defense is developing a micro UAV with a captain and a wingspan less than 15cm. Endurance 1 hour, cruising range 16 km. It can fly into buildings for reconnaissance, and can be attached to buildings or equipment as an audio-visual surveillance post. The U.S. Department of Defense is prepared to use this aircraft for surveillance missions under special circumstances.

Unmanned combat aircraft

The speed will be 12 times the speed of sound. It can be launched from a large manned plane or remotely controlled by a pilot on the ground to perform various combat tasks. 1in March 1996, NASA developed two testing machines: the X-36 experimental tailless unmanned combat aircraft. The captain is 5.7 meters long and weighs 88 kilograms, which is equivalent to 28% of the size of an ordinary fighter. The discrete aileron and steering thrust systems used in this aircraft are more flexible than traditional fighters. The horizontal and vertical tails not only reduce the weight and tension, but also reduce the radar reflection cross section. The ideal task that unmanned combat aircraft will perform is to suppress enemy air defense, intercept, combat loss assessment, theater missile defense and ultra-high altitude attack, which is especially suitable for performing tasks in politically sensitive areas. Advanced mobile unmanned combat aircraft can destroy targets with lasers.

Unmanned stealth attack aircraft

The speed of this kind of plane is five times the speed of sound. Miniature high-precision guided bombs can destroy all kinds of moving targets in a few minutes. In the next 10-30 years, the US Air Force plans to replace the existing aircraft with unmanned fighters and unmanned stealth attack aircraft to carry out dangerous combat missions.