Each UAV Optimized for Single Mission

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Development in the Chinese UAV industry. Chinese manufacturer AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Corporation has exposed its Cloud Shadow strike/reconnaissance UAV. The turbojet-powered aircraft is the first high-altitude, high-speed UAV produced by the manufacturer and aimed at the export market.

According to flightglobal.com, AVIC has exposed the armed variant of the aircraft, although a second variant is optimised solely for the reconnaissance mission.

In the armed role, the Cloud Shadow can carry up to 400kg of munitions on four or six hardpoints, while it can also be configured with a range of electro-optical sensors and use it in search and rescue. Its endurance is up to four hours, and it has an operating altitude of 41,000ft.

According to uasvision.com, the family of Cloud Shadow systems offers a potent mix of high-altitude intelligence-gathering and weapons capabilities – but unusually short endurance, according to specifications released by AVIC. AVIC’s design philosophy breaks from the multi-mission approach used for many Western UAS designs. Each of the three variants in the Cloud Shadow family is optimised for a single role, in the form of the imagery-collecting CS-1, electronic-eavesdropping CS-2 and the hunter-killer CS-3.

Alongside the Cloud Shadow, AVIC is also displaying the propeller-powered Wing Loong I and Wing Loong II UAVs, which are also seeking export sales. Both types have featured at various air shows in recent years, and are increasingly being shown with an array of surveillance and weapons payloads. The larger of the two platforms, the Wing Loong II, can carry a range of missiles and bombs and has a 20-hour endurance. It has reportedly been sold to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.