Chengdu (AVIC) Soar Dragon (Soar Eagle)

History of Chengdu (AVIC) Soar Eagle

Like other military powers in the world, China wholeheartedly embraces the concept of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in modern warfare. As a result, a number of internal programs were initiated to produce the first generation of viable Chinese military UAS for target reconnaissance, tracking and engagement.

The Guizhou "Tengying" (also known as "Tenglong") is a step in this direction, as it uses a scaly fuselage and a plane powered by an advanced turbojet. At the time of writing (2012), Soar Eagle is currently in development, with some select images leaked (such as the Chinese government's handling of such incidents).

Intended for service with the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), the Soaring Eagle will initially be used for reconnaissance missions, with the possibility of adding weapons support later in its development life cycle.

From the available imagery, the Soar Eagle bears clear resemblance to the U.S. Air Forces Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAV long-range and high-altitude unmanned aerial system. However, there are several unique design features that make the Soaring Eagle a completely unique Chinese design, including its single vertical tail and tandem tandem wing configuration.

The Soaring Eagle has the same overall look and feel as the Global Hawk, with its bulbous front fuselage, rear engine placement and air intakes mounted on the fuselage's spine. Like the Global Hawk, the Soaring Eagle is larger in size than a medium-range UASroughly the size of a small manned aircraftwith a wingspan of over 81 feet, a height of nearly 18 feet, and a barrel length from 47 feet on foot.

As such, the aircraft has the physical capability of long-range, high-altitude operations and is therefore classified as a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) drone.

The Soaring Eagle is powered by a Guizhou WP-13 turbojet engine mounted to the rear of the streamlined fuselage, producing approximately 9,700 pounds of thrust. The WP-13 is an advanced Chinese variant of the Soviet-era Tumansky R-13 series, primarily used in Soviet Cold War interceptors Sukhoi Su-15 "Flagon" and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 "Fishbed".

Performance specs are said to include a cruising speed of over 460 mph, a service ceiling of nearly 60,000 feet and a mission duration window of about 10 hours.

While not a true stealth aircraft, the Soaring Dragon appears to have some recognized stealth characteristics, such as:

China Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation (GAIC) is the general contractor for the Soaring Eagle development, while the design is led by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. The Soaring Dragon was first shown in model form at the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show.

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