Chinese Military Network: Various Types of Indigenous Drones Participate in Emergency Relief Missions
Date: December 12, 2023
On December 19th at noon, the Wing Loong-2H emergency relief drone developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) was urgently dispatched to fly to disaster areas to carry out emergency communication support and disaster reconnaissance tasks. In the early morning of the 20th, to seize the golden rescue time, the Wing Loong-2H emergency relief drone, equipped with reconnaissance and communication payloads, once again flew from Lan Tian Airport in Zigong, Sichuan Province to Jishishan County, Gansu Province, to fully carry out disaster reconnaissance and emergency communication support tasks.
During the missions on the 20th, the Wing Loong-2H emergency relief drone conducted reconnaissance and found partial house damage, damaged infrastructure, and road collapses. It transmitted real-time information to the command hall through high-definition images, achieving seamless integration of images, voice, and data, as well as visualized command. This enabled the command center to promptly grasp the situation of the disaster area and fully promote rescue and relief efforts and temporary resettlement work.
At the same time, the Wing Loong-2H emergency relief drone acted as an "airborne base station," continuously restoring the public network signal network for mobile, Unicom, and telecommunications in the task area. It achieved long-term and stable continuous public network signal coverage of approximately 50 square kilometers, providing communication support for disaster-affected people.
The Wing Loong-2H emergency relief drone executing the mission has the characteristics of long endurance, long flight time, large payload, and strong environmental adaptability. It can fly under normal conditions in wind forces of 8 to 10 levels, and complete tasks such as multispectral disaster scene reconnaissance, "three-network integration" of public networks, and emergency networking. It can selectively restore public network communication for 50 square kilometers and establish an audiovisual communication network covering 15,000 square kilometers.
Also providing full support for the rescue work in Jishishan County, Gansu Province on the 20th was the Rainbow-4 emergency rescue drone. It leveraged its long endurance advantage to continuously conduct surveillance over the disaster area, transmitting image data in real-time and coordinating with ground rescue forces to guide ground search and rescue operations. It successfully completed a 6-hour reconnaissance mission, assisting relevant departments in obtaining first-hand situation data and providing information support for subsequent disaster relief work.
The Rainbow-4 drone has a wingspan of 18 meters, a maximum ceiling of 7,200 meters, a maximum endurance of over 30 hours, a maximum flight speed of 230 kilometers per hour, and a maximum takeoff weight of 1,330 kilograms. In recent years, targeting different drone application scenarios, a new model equipped with heavy oil engines has been launched for the Rainbow-4, which has good application capabilities in plateau and high-cold areas.
In order to meet various needs, the Rainbow-4 drone has diversified configurations, which can carry payloads such as satellite communication systems, high-definition optoelectronic payloads, synthetic aperture radar, lidar, high-definition CCD cameras, hyperspectral cameras, communication relay equipment, etc. It can perform a wide range of tasks in the civil field, while being convenient to assemble and disassemble, and can be transported by sea, land, and air. It can quickly complete transfer and deployment according to mission requirements.