BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's independently-developed Wing Loong large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) family has embraced a new model made of all-composite materials, its developer announced Friday.
The Wing Loong-1E all-composite multipurpose large UAV successfully completed its maiden flight on Jan. 18, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
The large UAV conducted an autonomous takeoff and then completed a 22-minute maiden flight, with the UAV in good condition, said AVIC.
The Wing Loong-1E is developed by AVIC (Chengdu) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Co., Ltd. (AVIC UAS), an AVIC subsidiary in southwest China's Chengdu.
The new model is developed based on the mature Wing Loong UAV family, with an optimized and upgraded UAV platform.
Aiming at greater market opportunities for high-end UAVs, AVIC UAS fully deploys the advantages of its self-developed products and introduces diverse models to serve various demands from domestic and overseas UAV users.
Based on the current series of UAV products, AVIC UAS has been continuously developing and introducing new UAV models, which play roles in serving various applications and enrich the pedigree of its UAV products.
Eying greater market success, the Chinese high-end UAV developer is gearing up to enhance the performance and brand of the Wing Loong series UAV, both at home and abroad, according to AVIC UAS.
The progress of the Wing Loong series UAV highlights China's determination and persistent efforts in mastering independent key and core technologies in its aerospace sector, to safeguard national security, economic development and people's livelihoods.
"The progress comes from the development of the country's complete aviation industry, and also from the advancement of key technologies," said Li Yidong, chief designer of the Wing Loong series UAV and deputy general manager of AVIC UAS.
"Wing Loong has started to serve the people in emergency-rescue support, meteorological monitoring and artificial precipitation missions," Li said.
Prior to the latest maiden flight of the new all-composite model, various other models of the Wing Loong family have played unique roles in ecological restoration, maritime meteorological monitoring and emergency-rescue missions.
