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China's Global Hawk revealed


Doug Barrie posted the photo above on the Ares blog last week. The picture shows a relatively new Chinese UAV obviously designed (see high-aspect ratio wing) for high-altitude operations.

The UAV is likely the BZK-005. It hasn't received much press in the West, but is well-known on indigenous Chinese defense blogs. See reference on the cnair.top81.cn blog's UAV page below:

BZK-005 was developed by BUAA and HAIG in 2005 as a medium/high altitude long range reconnaissance UAV. It was unveiled briefly in an AVIC promotional video at the 2006 Zhuhai International Airshow. The UAV features a stealth optimized fuselage and twin tailfins tilted outwards to reduce RCS. A large SATCOM antenna is thought to be installed inside the nose bulge, which provides live data transmission over thousands of kilometers. A small turret is installed underneath the nose housing the FLIR/CCD cameras. Those can be used for photo reconnaissance if needed. The UAV also features wings of a large wingspan and a fuel efficient poston engine, and is constructed using large amount of composite materials. These help to increase its range and cruising altitude, while reduce its RCS. Some specifications: cruising speed 150-180km/hr, service ceiling 8,000m, endurance 40hr, max TO weight <1,250kg, max payload >150kg, TO distance <600m, landing distance <500m.
There are also good references to the BZK-005 on Chinese-language military blogs. You can read Google-translated versions of the BZK-005 pages here and here, but look out for a not-safe-for-work-image at the bottom of the former page.

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