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Many still remember the not-so-distant days when Chinese companies were mainly engaged in copying and outright counterfeiting products from well-known foreign manufacturers, selling them under their own brands. Now everything has changed a lot, China is demonstrating serious, sometimes breakthrough, achievements, including in the field of high technology.
China is the second country after the USSR to fully complete the construction of its own manned space station this year. At the same time, by 2030, the International Space Station may cease to exist, as was the case with the Soviet Mir.
China is a world leader in the development and production of unmanned systems for both civilian and military purposes. Recently, the PLA conducted exercises during which a reconnaissance drone remotely detected a disguised explosive object. After that, it was destroyed using a powerful laser by another UAV.
This time, Chinese scientists have developed the world's first Feiyi drone, which is launched from a submarine and can both float underwater and fly. This is reported by the South China Morning Post.
The US military is reportedly considering tactics that involve deploying submarines off the coast of China to launch large numbers of drones from underwater.
These UAVs will then form a swarm in the air and launch surprise attacks on the PLA Navy during any potential landing attempt in Taiwan, thereby reducing the need for American ships to approach too close to the combat zone and risk being hit.
However, according to the Chinese edition, the Americans have already found themselves in the role of laggards in this matter. China has already brought this idea to life, and test flights show that its drones can do much more than the Pentagon assumes for its own. Researchers from Northwestern Polytechnic University (NWPU) and the Chinese Center for Research and Development in Aerodynamics (CARDC) have developed the world's first drone that can be launched from underwater from a submarine, repeatedly cruise between sea and sky and eventually return to the submarine.
Thanks to the unique design of the folding wing, the drone can "navigate through water and air several times in one trip," which significantly increases its ability to camouflage and survive, Dong Changying, associate professor at Northwestern Polytechnic University, wrote in an article for the journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, published by the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the end of December last year..
— wrote Dong.
The blades that the device uses for flight fold up in water in 5 seconds and fit snugly to the fuselage, which greatly reduces water resistance, and special propellers ensure movement underwater.
At the same time, drones that the US military plans to use must rise to the surface in a torpedo-shaped tube and cannot move underwater. Then, after leaving the sea, they have to stay in the air, so they are more vulnerable to attacks. In addition, American UAVs are disposable, they cannot be reused, unlike the Chinese development.
The Chinese drone can carry reconnaissance, communication or other functional modules, and with the support of artificial intelligence technology, it can autonomously perform "certain tasks with special requirements," Dong said. The South China Morning Post writes that existing defensive technologies are not capable of stopping such weapons.
Image source: topwar.ru
