On February 27, 2017, China successfully tested the Wing Loong II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) developed the Wing Loong II. It is China’s first reconnaissance and attack integrated UAV.
The Wing Loong II is 11 meters long and 4.1 meters tall with a wing span of 20.5 meters. It can reach a top speed of 370 km per hour and service ceiling of 9,000 meters. It has an endurance of 20 hours and a payload of 480 kg.
The Wing Loong II’s standard configuration includes synthetic aperture radar, laser guided missiles and GPS guided bombs. It can be used for reconnaissance, monitoring, and air-to-ground attack. It can also be expanded for information collection, electronic warfare, and search and rescue.
Li Yidong, the chief designer of the Wing-Loong platform, claimed, “China has become a country which, after the U.S., has the ability to research and develop the new generation of reconnaissance and strike integrated UAVs.”
He also mentioned that, even before the test flight, China received its biggest UAV foreign order for the Wing Loong II.
Source: People’s Daily, February 28, 2017
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0228/c1011-29113159.html