China's AT200 cargo UAV readies for operational evaluation

Star UAV System, a Chengdu-based developer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has begun production and initial deliveries of its AT200 cargo UAV following a series of successful airworthiness trials in 2018, Jane’s has learnt.

Under a contract awarded by launch customer SF Express in October 2017, Star UAV will supply three AT200 air vehicles for further evaluation and operational testing. The company will partner with SF Express – China’s second largest domestic and international courier based in the Guangdong province – to validate air traffic control, autonomous flight and navigation technologies, and safety procedures that are necessary to enable large-scale unmanned air logistics operations within the country.

The company has also signed a contract to deliver up to 50 air vehicles to an undisclosed customer by 2022.

A Star UAV spokesperson told Jane’s that a prototype AT200 successfully performed a pre-programmed flight between Pucheng Neifu Airport and Danfeng Airport in Shaanxi province on 26 October 2018, flying at altitudes of up to 16,732 ft (5,100 m) over the Qinling Mountains, with the air vehicle taxiing and taking off automatically during the launch process.

The air vehicle also performed an automatic landing and taxi to its allocated berth, before being inspected by engineers from Star UAV and the co-developer Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It returned to Pucheng Neifu Airport via an alternate route, again automatically performing launch and recovery manoeuvres. According to the spokesperson, the flight trial lasted for approximately 194 minutes.

Chinese engineers have converted a utility plane into the world's first large transport drone for an express delivery company.

The drone — a refitted PAC P-750 XSTOL turboprop built by New Zealand's Pacific Aerospace — is undergoing ground tests, according to a senior designer involved in the project.

"If all goes well, the plane will make its maiden flight in early October," said Chen Xiang, director of unmanned aircraft vehicle guidance at the Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute.

"Once flight-tests are finished, the aircraft will be the world's first large transport drone for commercial use."

Designers and engineers from several Chinese institutes took part in the refit, including Chen's institute, which is part of Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.

The cargo drone is being produced for SF Express, the nation's second-largest courier after China Post. It will initially be used for technical demonstrations and by civil aviation authorities before going into commercial use, according to promotional materials from Chen's institute.

Amazon and DHL already use drones for delivery services and are developing new models. However, Chen said all the drones in service or in development are small and cannot compete with Chinese models for speed and capacity.

"The reason we lead in this field is because China is leading in e-commerce, thus needs such drones more urgently," he said on Monday on the sidelines of a civil-military integration development expo in Beijing.

To carry out the refit, he said engineers removed the pilot's instruments in the cockpit and installed ground-control and automated flight devices, the most important apparatus on a drone.

The plane now has a maximum takeoff weight of 3.4 metric tons, a capacity of 1 ton and a flight range of more than 2,000 kilometers.

Compared with manned cargo planes, a freight drone will spend about 30 percent less in terms of operational cost, according to Chen, who said they can be used for short-haul deliveries of time-sensitive goods, such as fresh food and medical supplies.

Source: IHS JANES News by Kelvin Wong / China Daily by Zhao Lei - 30 January 2019

Photo: China’s Star UAV has begun first deliveries of its AT200 cargo UAV and could manufacture as many as 50 of these air vehicles by 2022. (Photo by Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Chia-Yang Chen (East Asian XAirForces Editor from Taiwan)

China's AT200 cargo UAV readies for operational evaluation

(30.01.2019)