VIDEO & PHOTOS: China's 1st UAV "mega-festival"

The Orteig Prize motivated Charles Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic. The X Prize gave Burt Rutan all the excuse he needed to design SpaceShipOne. The organizers of China's AVIC Cup, which concluded this weekend in Beijing, appear slightly less ambitious, but who knows what ideas will be sparked by the country's first "international UAV innovation grand prix"?

At least 100 teams from around China and the world entered vehicles to compete for roughly US$378,000 in prizes. It is possible that the event included the mysterious flying wing UAV reported on this blog last Friday, but we've found no references to it in Chinese news articles and videos already posted about the event.

The most interesting design revealed by the Grand Prix is a flying-wing, tailed UAV submitted by Shenyang University, a school located in the same northeastern city as one of China's biggest makers of fighter jets.