China’s drone force grows in number, strength and potential, pushing unmanned craft further into sky and sea

Name: China’s world-first drone-carrier capable of operating on its own
Uploaded: 2022-08-19T22:00:16.000Z
Duration: 1 min 47 s
Description: China’s world-first drone-carrier capable of operating on its own

The drone mother ship Zhu Hai Yun is just one of the recent advances in Beijing’s push for greater use of unmanned vessels

A lightweight shipborne helicopter, a submarine drone that can fly and the military’s Robo-Shark broaden China’s network of tech options, says analyst

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The AR-500CJ unmanned vehicle had a maiden flight in China’s eastern Jiangxi Province recently. It brings further diversity and versatility to China’s drone fleet. Photo: Handout

Kristin Huang

Published: 6:00am, 20 Aug 2022Updated: 4:05pm, 20 Aug 2022

The latest unmanned vehicle to join China’s intelligence gathering network has had its maiden flight, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In a report on Monday, CCTV said the vehicle, the AR-500CJ, a lightweight shipborne helicopter developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, could be used for both military and civilian applications, such as maritime search and rescue.

During its maiden flight in China’s eastern Jiangxi province, the AR-500CJ performed manned take-off, landing and hovering, and landed smoothly. It will undergo functional and performance test flights and will have a technical appraisal in 2023.

Besides the helicopter drone, China has developed other unmanned hardware, such as the drone mother ship, the Zhu Hai Yun, the world’s first AI-powered drone mother ship whose wide deck can carry dozens of unmanned vehicles, including aerial drones, unmanned ships and submersibles.

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China’s world-first drone-carrier capable of operating on its own

Zhu Hai Yun is 88.5 metres long, 14 metres wide and 6.1 metres deep (290 feet long, 46 feet wide and 20 feet deep), with a designed displacement of 2,000 tonnes. It has a platform from which to launch unmanned military devices and can sail at a speed of 13 knots, with a top speed of 18 knots (21 mph) – similar to the speed of a container ship.