List of unmanned aerial vehicles of China

This is a list of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or 'drones'), of China. There are further categories and sub-categories following the main, comprehensive list, and some of the UAVs appear in more than one category/ sub-category when they can be classified by more than one. As late of 2010, there are more than a hundred UAV developers/manufacturers currently in China.[1] By 2014, that number is increased to over two hundred thirty UAV developers / manufacturers in China, with over two third of them are private enterprises (PE), and the remaining are government owned enterprises (GOE). Most of the GOEs are fully capable of indigenously completing the entire development of UAVs of various sizes, from the initial design at the very beginning, all the way to the final completion of UAVs of various sizes, ranging from the smallest micro air vehicle (MAV)s to the largest UAVs. In contrast, most PEs lack such capability because they are assemblers purchasing existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) subsystems such as airframes, flight control systems (FCS) and propulsion systems and integrating these subsystems together into final products of their own. Compounded with transparency and language hurdles, this often creates confusion among observers and analysts outside Chinese because the same UAV appears to be shown by different firms, while in reality, the only thing common is the COTS airframe chosen by different firms, which choose different COTS for other subsystems when assembling UAV of their own. For those PEs do have the full capability to indigenously completing the entire development of UAVs, their products are often limited to unmanned blimp/airships, unmanned helicopters/multirotors and micro air vehicle (MAV)s, which consist of the majority of Chinese UAVs. The Chinese UAV market is projected to be ¥ 10 billion in 2015,[2] and within next two decades, it is expected to increase to ¥ 46 billion.[3] As the end of 2013, there are over fifteen thousand UAVs operating in China in the civilian sector alone.[2]

Comprehensive list

This main list including miniature, micro (MAVs), and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs), unmanned blimps, rotary-wing UAVs of the People's Republic of China.

Amphibious / seaplane UAVs

This is a list of unmanned UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, which are designed to be launched amphibiously or from water.

Artillery-Launched UAVs

This is a list of unmanned UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, which are designed to be launched by various artilleries.

Experimental UAVs

This is a list of unmanned experimental UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

For aircraft carrier operation research

This is a list of unmanned experimental UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, and they are developed to explore the technologies necessary for aircraft carrier landing for ship-borne aircraft.

For research on deployment on board submarines

This is a list of unmanned experimental UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, and they are developed to explore the technologies needed to deploy UAV from submarines.

For stealth research

This is a list of unmanned experimental UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, and they are developed to explore the stealth technologies and associated flight control systems, particularly those of flying wing design.

Forward-swept wing design

This is the list of UAVs of Forward-swept wing design of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

For research on inflatable UAVs

This is a list of unmanned experimental UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, and they are developed to explore the technologies of inflatable UAVs.

Fuel cell powered UAVs

This is a list of fuel cell powered UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Jet-powered UAVs

This is a list of jet-powered (including rocket-powered) UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Jointed wing UAVs

This is the list of UAVs of jointed wing design of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Micro air vehicles

This is a list of unmanned micro air vehicles (MAV) of the People's Republic of China from the main list above. Majority of Chinese fixed- and rotary-wing UAVs are MAVs.

Parasol UAVs

This is a list of UAVs with parasol wing of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Twin boom UAVs

In addition to conventional layout, twin boom design is the second highest number of layout adopted by Chinese UAVs, and this is the list of UAVs in twin boom design of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Twin engine UAVs

This is the list of twin engine UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

UAVs controlled by smartphones

This is a list of UAVs of the People's Republic of China controlled by smartphones from the main list above.

Unmanned airships/blimps

This is a list of unmanned blimps and airships of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned cyclogyros

This is a list of unmanned cyclogyros of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned helicopters

This is a list of unmanned helicopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above, excluding unmanned coaxial helicopters, which are listed separately in their own subcategory. Unmanned helicopters consist of a significant portion of Chinese UAVs and most of these Chinese unmanned helicopters are developed as a direct result of an incident in 2007, when Japanese government arrested three officials of Yamaha Motor Company in early 2007 for exporting nine Yamaha unmanned helicopters to China in 2005, allegedly could be converted to military application from its original crop dusting role. This alleged charge is denied by both Yamaha and China, and Yahama has claimed that these unmanned helicopters only have a range of only 200 meters, or 656 feet, from the person who is controlling them and are therefore unlikely to be used to carry weapons of mass destruction, but the Japanese government nonetheless pressed charges.[5] The action of Japanese government triggered a massive Chinese response in a nationwide effort to develop domestic Chinese unmanned helicopters to replace those imported from Japan, including the rapid acceleration of existing unmanned helicopters programs in China. The massive nationwide effort has resulted in more than a hundred domestic Chinese unmanned helicopters, most of which are completed by integrating existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) airframes with COTS autopilots and flight control systems (FCS). Eventually these Chinese unmanned helicopters evolved into models with all subsystems such airframe and flight control systems indigenously developed in China.[6]

Unmanned coaxial helicopters

This is the list of unmanned coaxial helicopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned multirotors

This is a list of unmanned multirotors of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned tricopters

This is a list of unmanned tricopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned quadcopters

This is a list of unmanned quadcopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned hexacopters

This is a list of unmanned hexacopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned octocopters

This is a list of unmanned octocopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned ornithopters

This is the list of Unmanned ornithopters of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Unmanned powered paragliders

This is the list of unmanned powered paragliders of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

V/STOL UAVs

This is a list of V/STOL UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Lift augmented ducted fan V/STOL UAVs

This is a list of lift augmented ducted fan V/STOL UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

Tiltrotor V/STOL UAVs

This is a list of tiltrotor V/STOL UAVs of the People's Republic of China from the main list above.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chinese UAV industry
  2. 1 2 "Chinese UAV market in 2015". Retrieved Mar 7, 2014.
  3. ↑ Chinese UAV market in next 20 years
  4. ↑ Wong, Edward. (2013, September 21). "Hacking U.S. Secrets, China Pushes for Drones," The New York Times, p.A1 ff.
  5. ↑ Japanese unmanned helicopters export to China
  6. ↑ China develop its own unmanned helicopter
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