Twin-Tailed Scorpion
Chinese research and production company Tengoen Technology showed a new family of unmanned aerial vehicles at the recent 14th China-ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, China. Tengoen unveiled two fixed-wing UAVs—the TA001 “Striking Hawk” and the TB001 “Twin Tailed Scorpion”—and two rotary wing (VTOL) UAVs called the HA001 “Featherless Arrow” and the HB002 “ Xiao Li Guang.”
All can carry weapons are named after characters from the “Water Margin,” a famous Chinese literature, according to Tengoen.
The “Twin Tailed Scorpion” is of particular interest, since it is a twin propeller-driven Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. Three prototypes are under construction. The TB001 has a wingspan of 20 meters/65.6 feet; a maximum take off weight (mtow) of 2,800 kg/5,952 pounds; and an operating ceiling at 8,077 meters/26,250 feet. The endurance is 35 hours and the mission radius is 280 km/151 nm with line-of-sight communications links and more than 3,000 km/1,620 nm using satellite communications. The TB001 can also be armed with the FT-8D, FT-9 and FT-10D air-to ground missiles, as well as the FT-7 glide bomb.
Tengoens’s other fixed wing UAV, the single-engine TA 001, has an MTOW of 1,200 kg/2,646 pounds, and an endurance of 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the HA001 and HB001 have an mtow of 450 kg/992 pounds and 280 kg/617 pounds with endurance of six hours and five hours, respectively. According to Tengoen, these VTOL UAV can be used for reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, material supply and border patrol missions.
Tengoen Technology was formed in January 2016 by Chinese aviation technology firms and a state-owned investment company. The company has an independent research and development facility and two assembly facilities in its Sichuan complex in Chengdu province. According to one estimate, China’s military UAV market will be worth 24 billion yuan ($3.66 billion) between 2016 and 2025, with further export potential of 5.4 billion yuan ($850 million).
Source: AIN Online