Because the Chinese Navy has not developed vertical take-off and landing fighters at present, when talking about the future development of the 075-class amphibious assault ship, unmanned attack aircraft on board has become a topic that cannot be bypassed, and the Americans are also concerned about similar problems. On the evening of May 10, local time in the United States, according to the report of the US "Warzone" magazine, the Us General Atomic Company has developed a corresponding upgrade kit for the MQ-9B "Reaper" Tchattaka integrated UAV, allowing it to take off from the US Navy's amphibious assault ship.
According to General Atomics, the new retrofit kit is mainly a completely new set of wings and tails, and the other major systems on board should not be replaced. Because there are not many parts that need to be replaced, it only takes about 24 hours to convert an MQ-9B cha-ta integrated UAV that can only take off and land on a land-based airfield into a ship-based cha-ta integrated UAV. Moreover, the aircraft does not need to rely on catapults and ski-jump take-off decks at all, and can take off on the straight-through flight deck of ordinary amphibious assault ships.
Judging from the product diagram released by General Atomics, the wing kit is mainly structurally strengthened, the wing mechanism is not only thicker, but also larger in area to obtain enough lift to take off at a shorter distance, and at the same time, the wing is foldable to reduce the occupied flight deck area. The tail kit, on the other hand, is fitted with a hook, apparently the aircraft still needs to use the blocking cable like a fixed-wing carrier on the carrier when landing.
At present, the amphibious assault ships equipped by the US Navy are not equipped with blocking cables. Therefore, if you want to carry a carrier-based version of the MQ-9B Cha-ta integrated UAV, the US Navy's amphibious assault ship also needs to be modified and upgraded accordingly.
General Atomics said its product was developed entirely for the U.S. Marine Corps' philosophy of "expeditionary base operations." Because of China's increased long-range attack power, most of the US military's land-based airfields in the first and second island chains are no longer safe. Therefore, according to the concept of "expeditionary base operations", the U.S. Marine Corps hopes to strengthen the long-range attack capabilities of amphibious assault ships, and carrying F-35B vertical take-off and landing fighters is one option, and carrying a Schath integrated UAV is another option.
At the same time, in order to be able to adapt to the needs of maritime operations, General Atomics has begun to install the "Wave" 7500E V2 active phased array radar for the MQ-9B UAV in April. This active phased array radar enables the MQ-9B to perform anti-ship combat missions while also performing air superiority operations and ground strike missions.
The "Wave" 7500E V2 active phased array radar
The MQ-9B Chatan Integrated UAV is capable of carrying up to 16 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, making it fully capable of marine fire support needs. At the same time, the MQ-9B has also conducted air launch tests of the AIM-9X Fighting Air-to-Air Missile. Theoretically, as long as the airborne fire control radar is further upgraded, it is also possible to use medium-range air-to-air missiles such as aim-120.
In addition, General Atomics is also trying to be compatible with other ground/sea attack munitions. For example, the "Jadam" series of precision-guided bombs. The latest tests by the U.S. military have shown that such precision-guided bombs are also very destructive to medium and large warships.
Of course, this retrofit kit is not limited to the MQ-9B drone. General Atomics said that only small adjustments are needed, and the current US military's "SkyGuard" and "Ocean Guardian" drones can also use this kit and achieve normal take-off and landing on amphibious assault ships.
Judging from ukraine's recent use of Turkey's TB-2 drone to attack Russian naval patrol boats, in the offshore waters, the low detectability of the Tchatka UAVs is indeed a big threat to small and medium-sized warships in the offshore waters. Therefore, at present, our 075-class amphibious assault ship can also let our "Pterodactyl" and "Rainbow" UAVs on board before the stealth carrier-based UAV is on board.
There are many Tsatta integrated drones that China can choose to get on ships, the "Rainbow" series has "Rainbow-4", "Rainbow-5" and "Rainbow-6", and the "Pterodactyl" series has "Pterodactyl-1D", "Pterodactyl-2" and "Pterodactyl-10".
Of course, if you want to be able to match or surpass the US MQ-9B in terms of performance, then you need to choose a suitable model.
"Rainbow-5"
The "Rainbow-5" UAV has a wingspan of 21 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 3300 kg, a maximum external mount of 1000 kg, 6 external mount points, in the case of using a composite pylon, it can carry 16 ammunition, and the overall attack capability will be stronger than that of the MQ-9B. The wingspan of the "Pterodactyl-2" is also 21 meters, the maximum take-off weight is 4200 kg, the external plug-in is 480 kg, it has 7 external points, and the attack ability is also very good in the case of the same composite pylon.
"Pterodactyl-2"
The Pterodactyl-10 and Rainbow-6 UAVs are more capable of carrying Eagle Strike-9E light anti-ship missiles for over-the-horizon anti-ship combat missions. However, both drones use jet engines, and the weight of the whole aircraft is relatively large, making it difficult to take off without catapults and ski-jump take-off decks.
Therefore, on the whole, as long as the "Pterodactyl-2" and "Rainbow-5" two Chada integrated UAVs are first put into service on the 075-class amphibious assault ship, they can achieve the same effect as the US MQ-9B UAV on the ship, which is completely enough to support the arrival of stealth carrier-based UAVs.
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