"Military Subplane" Author: Mecha 888
▲A new domestic hypersonic missile adapted to the "Pterodactyl-3" UAV (picture source: Internet)
A few days ago, a rare physical picture showing the "Pterodactyl-3" drone weapon was exposed on domestic online social media, in which a new type of domestic missile that had never been seen before appeared. According to the relevant information and the shape of the missile in the picture, the missile may be a new type of hypersonic missile made in China that can be adapted to the use of UAVs, and considering that there is no other product of the same type in the world before, it is also the world's first hypersonic missile that can be adapted to UAVs.
▲Previously, most of the air-to-surface munitions used by the Chada UAV were small tactical munitions, and the picture shows some of the air-to-surface strike munitions that can be used by the "Pterodactyl-1" (picture source: Internet)
As we all know, at present, whether it is the airborne air-to-surface ammunition of UAVs used by our army for its own use, or the air-to-surface ammunition of UAVs used by other countries in the world, most of them are short-range tactical missiles or precision-guided bombs with a relatively short range and slow flight speed, and the range of these missiles or bombs is generally about 10-20 kilometers, and they do not have a strong penetration capability, and are easy to be intercepted by current air defense and anti-missile equipment. At the same time, due to the relatively short range, it is easy for the UAV that launches these ammunition to go deep into the area where the enemy's air defense fire is tight to drop the bomb, thus seriously restricting the UAV's long-range defense outside the strike capability and battlefield survivability.
▲ Rendering of the "Wing Loong-1" UAV launching the "Blue Sword-7" missile, the maximum range of this missile is only 7-8 kilometers (picture source: Internet)
However, the emergence and popularization of hypersonic missile technology has fundamentally changed the situation. Compared with traditional air-to-surface strike munitions, hypersonic missiles have a longer range, faster flight speed and stronger penetration capabilities, so they can well improve the long-range standoff strike capability and battlefield survivability of UAVs.
▲Mainland China once displayed a hypersonic missile called "Eagle Strike-21" at the 13th Zhuhai Air Show, and the shape of the new hypersonic missile that can be used by drones exposed this time is similar to a smaller version of this missile (picture source: Internet)
Specific to the UAV airborne hypersonic missile exposed in China, it can be seen from its appearance and relevant information that it is a small-size hypersonic tactical air-to-surface missile that applies the "rocket boost-glide" technology, which is mainly used to hit all kinds of fixed or moving targets on land/sea surface. The overall shape of the missile is similar to a miniature version of the "YJ-21" hypersonic missile, using the design of the head and body is inseparable, equipped with a solid-fuel rocket engine, the maximum flight speed is greater than Mach 5, the range is reported to be up to 100 kilometers, the application of the "inertial guidance + Beidou satellite guidance + active radar terminal guidance" composite guidance system, with strong anti-jamming ability. At the same time, this missile can theoretically be used with a variety of different types of conventional warheads, such as: high-explosive warheads, child-mother warheads, and penetrating warheads.
▲Schematic diagram of the performance of the "Pterodactyl-3" UAV (picture source: Internet)
In addition, from the performance of the missile's main carrier aircraft, the "Pterodactyl-3" UAV, it is speculated that the weight of this new UAV airborne hypersonic missile should be less than 2 tons, and the center pylon of a "Pterodactyl-3" UAV can be mounted on one. If the weight of this missile is further reduced to less than 1 ton, a "Pterodactyl-3" UAV can be mounted on the innermost hardpoint of the wings on both sides, and two can be mounted. That is, theoretically, one "Pterodactyl-3" UAV can carry up to 2 missiles of this type, which can hit up to 2 land / sea targets at a time.
▲The "Pterodactyl-3" UAV can further improve its air-to-surface strike effectiveness through new hypersonic missiles in the future (picture source: Internet)
To sum up, the equipment of this new UAV airborne hypersonic missile in the future can further improve the opposite strike capability of the continental UAV, so that the combat power level of the domestic UAV will be improved to a greater extent, which is of great significance to the large fixed-wing UAV of our army's own model and the large fixed-wing UAV of the domestic foreign trade model. At the same time, considering that the size, size, and weight of this missile are small, it can also be equipped with domestic tactical aircraft, so that domestic tactical aircraft can also be further enhanced in terms of opposing strike capabilities.