China has announced the development of a large tiltrotor drone capable of carrying up to 2 tons (4,400 pounds) of payload at a maximum speed of 340 miles (547 kilometers) per hour.
Dubbed the Lanying R6000, the United Aircraft-manufactured drone rolled out of its production facility at the Wuhu United Aircraft Production Workshop in southeastern China for the first time on October 11th.
The maximum take-off weight of Lanying R6000 is 6 tons, the maximum commercial weight is 2 tons, it can carry up to 10 passengers, the maximum range is 4,000 kilometers, the fastest cruising speed is 550 kilometers per hour, and the maximum cruising altitude is 7,620 meters.
Because of the complex and innovative tilt-rotor configuration, the production difficulty of the Lanying R6000 is high and the assembly error tolerance is low. Therefore, United Aircraft arranged it to be assembled in Wuhu United Aircraft, the group’s production and manufacturing headquarters and the main strategic fulcrum in East China.
The reasons for choosing to assemble the Lanying R6000 in Wuhu are far more than that.
“The development of the aviation industry depends on a good industrial ecology, and Wuhu obviously has this condition.” The relevant person in charge of Wuhu United Aircraft said that the complete gathering of upstream and downstream enterprises in Wuhu Aviation Industrial Park can not only reduce R&D, procurement and production costs, but also promote technology iteration and increase technological innovation.
“After ten years of development, Wuhu Aviation Industrial Park has now gathered nearly 200 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, covering the entire industrial chain including R&D, manufacturing, maintenance, operation, training, logistics, etc. The independent matching rate of key core components of the whole aircraft has reached 100%, basically realizing ‘a domestic general aviation aircraft can be produced without leaving the park’.”
A spokesman for the Wanzhi District Aviation Industrial Center introduced that Wuhu has therefore earned the reputation of “Look at Shanghai for big planes, and look at Wuhu for small planes.”
“Ten years of hard work will test the sword’s edge in one day.” The relevant person in charge of the Wuhu Aerospace (Low-altitude Economy) Special Team said that the city’s aerospace industry has emerged from its cocoon and the low-altitude economy is ready to take off. After ten years of development, Wuhu’s low-altitude economy industry has not only “produced” “fruits” such as the Lanying R6000, but is also moving towards the direction of “being able to manufacture, flying, widely used, and excellent business forms”.
Sources: Wuhu News Network; The Defense Post
The Lanying R6000 concept was first unveiled at the Singapore Airshow in February, but its first fully-developed prototype is expected to debut at the 2024 Zhuhai Air Show next month.
Osprey-Like
The new Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is being compared to America’s V-22 Osprey aircraft due to its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability despite its heavy weight.
It also has significantly higher speeds than ordinary drones and helicopters – a capability only a modern aircraft like the Osprey possesses.
However, the Lanying R6000 has a far smaller carrying capacity than the Bell Boeing model, which can carry 24 passengers or up to 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms) of cargo.
With the advanced features of the Chinese UAV, reports note that the platform is highly difficult to produce and has a low assembly error tolerance.
Once deployed, the tiltrotor drone could support logistics, search and rescue, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
Source: The Defense Post