China conducted a detailed analysis of the unmanned aerial vehicle XQ-58A Valkyrie. There they found, that he has many shortcomings.
Reported by the South China Morning Post from Hong Kong.
The UAV research was carried out at the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute (China). They concluded, that the American XQ-58A Valkyrie drone is useless for air combat, since it does not have the necessary maneuverability for this.
Chinese researchers suggested, that the drone will be used in operations with a high degree of risk and a high probability of, that he won't return from the mission. That is, it is to some extent a “disposable” weapon. Therefore, its cost is relatively small compared to modern fighters and amounts to about two million dollars.
Chinese experts emphasized, that the drone in its current form is not suitable for air combat. maybe, this is not required of him, although it is possible, that the Americans will try to improve its characteristics. But, experts say, developers are primarily trying to increase the payload and size of the vehicle’s fuel tanks. It means, that maneuverability is not a priority for them.
During the research, the Chinese used publicly available information about the drone and used computer programs called reverse engineering.. Researchers claim, that they do not intend to copy UAVs, but only analyzed its combat capabilities.
used photos:https://www.wpafb.af.mil/, BBC (United States)
