China successfully park the new airship near space

[Dungeness]

I saw a post saying it has EW systems. Will you tell us more about its EW capability?

This airship is the products of a private enterprise and some government research institutes, and was stated it has military and civilian dual use. At this time, the communication experiments are been carrying out on it. EW was my reasonable guess, an in theory, it can be used in place of AWACS that China has only few, considering the size of it.

 

[Viper0011.]

This airship is the products of a private enterprise and some government research institutes, and was stated it has military and civilian dual use. At this time, the communication experiments are been carrying out on it. EW was my reasonable guess, an in theory, it can be used in place of AWACS that China has only few, considering the size of it.

Ok, thank you for the explanation. These kind of platforms serve good purposes for weather, communication and even stationary radars.

 

[cirr]

Here comes another type of airship in development by AVIC

60-ton Airship to Be Added to China’s 'Golden Eagle' Fleet

Alvin Ybanez | Oct 06, 2015 08:10 AM EDT

A Golden Eagle-class airship (Photo : Internet photo)

China is developing a massive airship as part of its “Jin Diao” or “Golden Eagle” series of dirigibles, the state-owned People’s Daily newspaper revealed in a recent report.

A model of the airship was displayed at the Aviclub convention from Oct. 4-6 at Jingmen Zhanghe General Aviation Airport in central China's Hubei Province, the report said.

Weighing approximately 60 tons, the multipurpose airship is being developed by a special unit under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). The craft will be kept afloat using helium and equipped with high-definition cameras and equipment for infrared imaging, gas detection, navigation and surveillance.

The new model is also rumored to have a state-of-the-art steering technology, advanced flight control systems that can monitor flight parameters, and an assortment of fail-safe functions.

With the ability to conduct vertical take-off and landing, remote control and autonomous flight capabilities, and automatic pressure management, the Golden Eagle airship is touted as being highly maneuverable, easy to set up and safe to fly, the People's Daily said in its report.

For surveillance applications, the airship can be fitted with high-performance infrared and HD cameras for day or night imaging, making it suitable for inspections, city monitoring and anti-terrorism patrols. The captured images can be uploaded to the Internet as soon as the data is transferred to equipment on the ground.

Golden Eagle-class airships have been used in a wide range of applications, including aerial photography, scientific experiments, environmental monitoring, resource exploration, emergency rescue, communications relay and traffic guidance.

In July, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls oversaw the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between AVIC and French firm Flying Whales Holdings Co. Under the agreement, a joint venture will be established to develop a heavy-load airship with a focus on global transportation market.

According to the People's Daily, the airships are part of the Chinese government's 13th five-year plan for 2016-2020. The plan eyes the establishment of a domestic airship industry with three goals, namely, the development of a 60-ton airship, building manned airships for the China's tourism industry, and the consolidation and development a tethered balloon project for the "special purpose" market, the report said.

60-ton Airship to Be Added to China’s 'Golden Eagle' Fleet : News : Yibada

 

[BoQ77]

Is it basically a giant balloon?
It's a cheap solution, instead of the rally of satellites.

 

[GS Zhou]

Is it basically a giant balloon?
It's a cheap solution, instead of the rally of satellites.

Airship and satellite could both find their appropriate positions in a broader defense systems.

China's defense budget is still much smaller than US. So we need to spend the money more wisely.

 

[BoQ77]

Airship and satellite could both find their appropriate positions in a broader defense systems.

China's defense budget is still much smaller than US. So we need to spend the money more wisely.

American uses military balloons too. Aerostat

 

[graphican]

What is the purpose of it?.

In a war scenario, backup plans for supplementing or complimenting satellites after they come under attack.

 

[Bussard Ramjet]

Ok, so for the benefit of others, especially @BoQ77 let me list what are the advantages:

1. An airship has the capability to loiter. That is it can stay fixed in space above the ground for long periods of time, giving continuous live coverage of ground. This is not possible with satellites, as they are in orbit around the Earth, and hence have to travel around the Earth. The only orbit that exactly matches the Earth's rotation is geostationery which is at 36000km.
2. Airship is located between 20km to 80km in height, and is as such capable of extremely detailed surveillance. In comparison, the LEO satellites most useful for Earth Observation are located about 200 - 800 km above Earth, which is 10 times above in height. Hence, this combined with the real time coverage that it can provide is very useful.
3. An airship cannot go over hostile or other sovereign territory. The atmosphere is usually measured upto 100km, and hence the airship technically travels within the atmosphere or airspace of a country.
4. Airship is extremely easy to locate and destroy, making its wartime use unlikely.

So all in all, it is an ideal platform for local, real time, high definition coverage to be mainly used in peace time.

To be very frank, the one capability that China is sorely missing is of an aeroplane, like U2, or SR 72, both extremely capable reconnaisance platforms.

 

[GS Zhou]

Airship is extremely easy to locate and destroy, making its wartime use unlikely.

Airship is located between 20km to 80km in height,

If airship is located between 40km to 80km in height, it will be in a very safe situation. Because such height is out of the range of most fighters or air defense missiles. I think currently only China, US and Russia owns the capabilities to destroy an air target at such height!

 

[applesauce]

1. An airship cannot go over hostile or other sovereign territory. The atmosphere is usually measured upto 100km, and hence the airship technically travels within the atmosphere or airspace of a country.

depends on who you're fighting, i imagine going over a "hostile" somalia isnt much of a problem. in peacetime, i imagine on the border, you can see far into the neighboring country giving its great height up.

Airship is extremely easy to locate and destroy, making its wartime use unlikely.

actually, not that many countries have the capability to kill things floating around at 80 kms up. but i suppose the need to replace destroyed satellites only exists in a doomsday scenario, such as a showdown with the US in the future or something. but on its own it's very useful and versatile for low intensity conflicts and problem regions since these things should be much cheaper than launching sats.

To be very frank, the one capability that China is sorely missing is of an aeroplane, like U2, or SR 72, both extremely capable reconnaisance platforms.

we already heard about a successful manned test flight of a plane going mach 5.

 

[Bussard Ramjet]

depends on who you're fighting, i imagine going over a "hostile" somalia isnt much of a problem. in peacetime, i imagine on the border, you can see far into the neighboring country giving its great height up

Of course man! When I am making statements like these, some assumptions are already made, among them being that the adversary is an actual capable nation. Any country with a Short Range Ballistic Missile can hit it.

Among Chinese neighbors, Japan, Korea, Russia, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, and Taiwan can shoot them down. Not to mention that a SRBM can very easily be provided by Japan or US to other nations.

Also, the airship sailed at 20km as far as I know. It is yet to show the capability to go higher up.

actually, not that many countries have the capability to kill things floating around at 80 kms up. but i suppose the need to replace destroyed satellites only exists in a doomsday scenario, such as a showdown with the US in the future or something. but on its own it's very useful and versatile for low intensity conflicts and problem regions since these things should be much cheaper than launching sats.

The side glance is indeed true, and no doubt it is very useful in many scenarios, potentially like the ones in Xinjiang, or in Pakistani Tribal areas.

we already heard about a successful manned test flight of a plane going mach 5.

We don't know the flight is manned, which most analysts think it is not.

Also, testing and prototype is different from deployment and mass production stage.

 

[BoQ77]

If airship is located between 40km to 80km in height, it will be in a very safe situation. Because such height is out of the range of most fighters or air defense missiles. I think currently only China, US and Russia owns the capabilities to destroy an air target at such height!

Now start with 80km in height.
Let assume China will destroy 10 targets with 80km in height.
Which is the weapon China would use?
How long does it take to ( prepare and ) shoot them down?

SM-3 or THAAD can't shoot it?

 

[GS Zhou]

Now start with 80km in height.
Let assume China will destroy 10 targets with 80km in height.
Which is the weapon China would use?
How long does it take to ( prepare and ) shoot them down?

SM-3 or THAAD can't shoot it?

You mean shooting a target at 80km height should be difficult to a country could even shoot satellite?

I won't share any technology details with a person showing strong hostile attitude towards China.

 

[BoQ77]

You mean shooting a target at 80km height should be difficult to a country could even shoot satellite?

I won't share any technology details with a person showing strong hostile attitude towards China.

I know China can. But it may take some time.
As what I read, China would use a variant of MRBM like SC-19 to shoot that, and it takes quite a long time to prepare and shoot. Correct if I'm wrong.

While Japan or UAE would use SM-3 to shoot that in seconds.

In paper, A Scud missile could have chance too.

 

[terranMarine]

You mean shooting a target at 80km height should be difficult to a country could even shoot satellite?

I won't share any technology details with a person showing strong hostile attitude towards China.

He's here to collect info, be careful