Chinese UCAV Takes Maiden Flight

Photographs have appeared on Chinese military blogs purportedly showing the maiden flight of the Lijian (Sharp Sword) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). The photographs first appeared on Chinese language military websites: lt.cjdby.net and huanqiu.com on Nov. 21, supposedly the same day the flight occurred. According to lt.cjdby, the Lijian was designed by Shenyang Aircraft Design…

Chinese UAV Contest Practices Simulated Carrier Landings

Chinese media reports indicate that the winner of the 2nd AVIC-Cup International UAV Innovation Grand Prix (UAVGP) in the fixed-wing category this week was fielded by a group of students representing Shenyang Aerospace University in Liaoning Province. The AVIC-Cup competition was held at Miyun Airport in northeast Beijing. According to media reports, the fixed-wing UAV…

Update: China’s J-20 Spotted With New Missile

Ok, who can tell me what this is? Any educated guess welcome. For me, it looks like the Russian R-77 (AA-12 Adder), but it could be a variant of the SD-10 (particularly the surface-to-air variant). According to the Want China Times (2013-09-23): “A new mysterious type of missile has been spotted on the second prototype…

US Intelligence Report a Cut-Paste on Chinese Missiles

College students can be flunked for cut-and-paste reports, think tankers can be embarrassed, Defense News staff writers can be fired, but not, apparently, members of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). Most of its so-called “updated” report, 2013 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, which contains contributions from the Defense Intelligence Agency Missile and…

Taiwan’s Red Bird Express Service, Rain or Shine

A Taiwan military official told Defense News that a decision to disguise army vehicles as a commercial delivery service, covert cover for road-mobile Hsiung Feng 2E land-attack cruise missile batteries, is “idiotic” and “embarrassing.” The photograph shows a command post vehicle for the Hsiung Feng 2E painted with the Chinese words “Red Bird” express service.…