Chapter 1185 Drones and Anti-drones
WZ-5 is a type of drone that flies at high altitude and high subsonic speed, and is mainly used for scientific research such as military reconnaissance, high-altitude photography, target drone or geological survey, and atmospheric sampling.
It is also the only drone that participated in the "Red Dragon Roar" military operation, and it also played an important role in the subsequent war.
But if we talk about a leap, it must be the birth of the "Haidongqing" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.
The "Haidongqing" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft has not been officially announced yet, although the outside world already knows about its existence.
Every time the Zhuhai Air Show is held, there are always military fans who expect it to appear at the air show, but it never appears.
From the first "Haidongqing" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in 1995 to now, the "Haidongqing" has been in service in the Air Force for 10 years. The Air Force equipped with 40 "Haidongqing" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft has greatly improved its ability in aerial reconnaissance.
In the riots caused by the Southeast Asian financial crisis, the "Haidongqing" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft played a huge role in aerial reconnaissance.
In the 2001 South Asian War, the ‘Haidongqing’ UAV also played a very important role. In conjunction with military reconnaissance satellites, it clearly detected every move of the Indian army.
It is precisely because the ‘Haidongqing’ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft won the National Science and Technology Progress Special Award.
However, Panshan Group’s research on UAVs did not stop at the ‘Haidongqing’ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, but developed the ‘Wing Loong’ UAV and the ‘Rainbow’ UAV.
The ‘Haidongqing’ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft is positioned as a high-altitude long-range UAV with the ability to provide data and responses all day and night, mainly for long-range reconnaissance.
The ‘Wing Loong’ UAV is positioned as a military and civilian dual-use medium-low altitude long-flight multi-purpose UAV. The aircraft can carry various reconnaissance, laser irradiation/ranging, electronic countermeasures equipment and air-to-ground strike weapons. It can perform surveillance, reconnaissance and ground attack missions, and can be used for stability maintenance, counter-terrorism, and border patrols.
The Wing Loong UAV can be used in civil and scientific research fields, such as disaster monitoring, anti-smuggling and drug detection, environmental protection, geological exploration, meteorological observation, geodesy and forest fire prevention.
There are currently two types of Rainbow UAVs, namely the Rainbow-1 UAV (CH-1UAV) and the Rainbow-2 UAV (CH-2UAV), which are defined as medium-range reconnaissance and strike UAVs.
The Rainbow-1 has a take-off weight of 1,260 kg, a load weight of 115 kg, a flight time of 30 hours, an operating radius of 250 km, a maximum range of 3,500 km, a cruising altitude of 8,000 meters, a cruising speed of 180 km/h, a fuel capacity of 325 meters, and adopts a horizontal wheeled take-off and landing method.
The Rainbow-1 has 4 weapon racks, and can also carry a 100-kilogram light precision-guided bomb on each of the two outermost racks.
‘Rainbow-2’ was developed on the basis of ‘Rainbow-1’. It is larger in size and has a greatly increased load-bearing capacity. It has 6 hanging points under its wings, which can carry 16 different types of air-to-ground missiles at a time, with a maximum load of 1 ton.
In future wars, drones will play a major role.
Since Liu Tao knew it, he would naturally not ignore it. It was under his attention that Panshan Group made great efforts in the development of drones.
Now three drones have been developed, and more drones will be developed in the future, forming one series after another.
Of course, this does not mean that manned aircraft will be eliminated.
Unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft are not contradictory, but can coexist.
The two can develop at the same time and promote each other.
Drones are also developed according to military and civilian use. Some aircraft are purely military, such as the ‘Haidongqing’ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which is purely military, and some can be used for both military and civilian purposes, such as the ‘Wing Loong’ drone, which can be used for both military and civilian purposes. Of course, some drones are purely civilian.
In the next 20 years, Panshan Group will continue to invest heavily in the field of drones and strengthen the development of drones.
As early as the 1980s, several universities in China opened drone-related courses, and the army gradually established drone-related units.
Since the late 1990s, drones have been an important force in the air force's aerial reconnaissance. At the same time, they have also been practicing the participation of drones in wars with the army, and constantly exploring the application and tactics of drones on the battlefield.
Now, drones have become a multiplier for the improvement of military combat power.
If a country goes to war with China again, the effect of trench warfare will be greatly reduced.
Because there may be small drones carrying bombs and throwing small wars into the trenches.
And in terms of reconnaissance, it has also been greatly strengthened. It is not easy to avoid drone reconnaissance through drone reconnaissance.
This has been verified in recent exercises.
Of course, while developing and improving drones, Panshan Group is also studying measures against drones.
After all, there may be attacks from the opponent's drones on the battlefield.
The United States is also not weak in the field of drones.
At present, there are about three ways.
The first and most traditional method is to use anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns to shoot down drones. At present, the air defense forces of the army have already taken "drone interception" as one of the training subjects. It has been a major training task in all previous exercises, and a special drone target has been developed for this purpose.
In actual combat, the anti-aircraft artillery units of the army will be organized into artillery groups. A artillery group is equipped with several anti-aircraft artillery, and then equipped with fire control radar and air defense radar on the position, sending firing parameters to each artillery group and issuing attack orders. With effective organization and fire control radar, it is not a big problem to use anti-aircraft guns to shoot down drones, and it is also one of the ways to easily shoot down drones.
The second is to use medium- and short-range air defense missiles to shoot down drones. The current flight altitude of drones is not too high. As long as the performance of their own radars is intact and the response is fast, drones can be shot down by short-range air defense missiles.
It’s just that this method is a bit of a "killing chicken with a butcher knife". How much is a drone, and how much is an air defense missile?
If drones are mass-produced, the price of drones can be very low, and even if it is a portable air defense missile, the price of a "vanguard" missile in the international market is 80,000 US dollars.
The third is to destroy drones with laser weapons. However, due to the current restrictions on high-energy batteries, vehicle-mounted laser weapons cannot be used on the battlefield, and they only exist in experimental nature in the short term.
This is to directly destroy the drone. There are also drone countermeasures, such as through radio frequency interference, signal deception, etc.
Drones and anti-drones are like the relationship between spears and shields. China needs both sharp spears and solid shields to be invincible on the battlefield.
Even in the future, with the application of tactical laser weapons such as vehicle-mounted laser cannons and laser guns on the battlefield, the ability to defend against drones will be greatly improved. (End of this chapter)