2024-08-13 06:55:49
China has conducted a test flight of the largest unmanned cargo drone intended for civilian use, Reuters reported. This is happening against the background of a huge competition among companies in the Asian country – which will offer its customers an unmanned aerial vehicle with more options for carrying supplies and transporting people.
Late last week, developer Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co showed off an unmanned aircraft-shaped drone that made its first flight within 20 minutes.
The aircraft has a wingspan of 16.1 m and a height of 4.6 m and is slightly larger than a Cesna 172 aircraft. Its payload is 2 tons.
In June, the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) made the first flight of its HH-100 (HH-100) drone, which is also shaped like a small plane. It has a payload capacity of 700 kilograms and a flight radius of 520 kilometers. Next year, AVIC plans to test its largest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2 tons of cargo and fly four times farther than the HH-100.
In its bid to build a commercial drone economy, China’s aviation regulator predicts it will be a 2 trillion yuan (about $280 billion) industry by 2030, which would represent four-fold growth from 2023 levels.
In May, cargo drone company Phoenix Wings, part of delivery giant SF Express, began delivering fresh fruit from Hainan Island to southern Guangdong using Fengzhou-90 drones. ” developed by SF.
Cargo drones promise shorter delivery times and lower transport costs, Chinese industry insiders say, while expanding deliveries to places where conventional aviation facilities are lacking. They could also transport people in the form of taxi services.
In April, aviation authorities issued a manufacturing certificate to drone maker EHang Holdings, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, for its passenger drone, the first such document in China for an autonomous passenger drone.
In a report from this year, for the first time the government identified the economy around the new type of air transport as a new engine of growth, writes BTA.