Documents obtained from the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of National Defense reveal that the Communist Party is developing military drones through a civil-military integration program. Pictured is a drone.
Late last year the U.S. government officially sanctioned 59 Chinese entities, including drone maker DJI, for supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s military purposes or monitoring the population. Recently obtained secret documents from the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Defense reveal that the Communist Party is actively developing military drones through a civil-military integration program.
On December 18, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce officially blacklisted the Chinese drone company “DJI Innovation (DJI)” on the Sanctions Blacklist (Entity List), a move that may cause DJI, which relies heavily on U.S. chips, to be knocked out of production, as ZTE was in 2018.
However, the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of National Defense’s 2017 Proposal for the Demonstration Project of Pre-Scientific Research and Industrialization of Military-Civilian Integration Equipment shows that while DJI’s drones account for the majority of the world’s small drone market, it is the long-endurance drones used on the battlefield that are the focus of the Communist Party’s military-civilian integration.
The obtained CCP 2017 Project Proposal for Small Long Endurance UAV Technology disclosed that “small long-endurance drones are mainly used for battlefield area reconnaissance, combat missions and communication information transmission” and “have become an indication of whether modern combat can be conducted” and “are of great importance to future warfare operations.
According to public data, DJI’s products account for over 80% of the global market share. However, DJI’s products are mainly low-altitude consumer drones with short flight time and a range of about 30 minutes. Compared with military drones, which represent the highest level of drone technology, they are far behind in speed, lift and range. Military drones are mostly medium- and high-altitude drones with a range of more than 24 hours.
The Ministry of Equipment Development of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Military Commission’s “13th Five-Year Plan” Equipment Pre-Research and Common Technology 2017 Annual Guide” released several UAV equipment development projects.
Screenshot of the “13th Five-Year Plan” Equipment Pre-Research and Common Technology 2017 Annual Guide by the Ministry of Equipment Development of the CPC Military Commission.
The 55th of these projects, “Shared Use-41411020301-Small Long Endurance UAV Technology,” states that it “focuses on breaking through key technologies such as efficient aerodynamic layout design, large span-to-string ratio lightweight wing structure design, efficient power system and platform integration design, and precise parachute landing and controlled recovery, to form 1-2 types of small long-endurance UAV platform overall technology solutions.
According to the guidelines, the project is expected to have a technology maturity level of 6, with a funding limit of 6 million RMB for a single project. The Chinese Communist Party’s military shared technology pre-research for equipment, mainly arranging key technologies with expected technology maturity level 4 to 6 for research.
Documents reveal that CCP’s civil-military integration targets advanced U.S. military drones
The CCP’s UAV civil-military integration document points out that the emergence of new unmanned combat aircraft has changed the past situation of playing mainly a supporting role on the battlefield and upgraded to a main air weaponry that can fight against the air.
The document reveals that the project targets the RQ-1 Predator, a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV developed and produced by General Atomics, and the RQ-4A Global Hawk, a baseline UAV produced by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Air Force.
The project is aimed at the U.S. military’s advanced RQ-1 Predator and RQ-4A Global Hawk drones, a Communist Party of China civil-military integration document disclosed.
The CCP document says the Global Hawk is the U.S. military’s most advanced unmanned aircraft system, with an altitude of more than 60,000 feet and a flight time of more than 30 hours. The U.S. military’s RQ/MQ-1 Predator UAVs are mid-altitude, long-endurance drones that have participated in combat in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.
The project document also refers to the current status of the domestic UAV, stating that “the ‘3C’ positioning system in the SA-36 automatic flight control system, in addition to its high positioning and navigation accuracy, has anti-jamming and anti-jamming systems that are not currently available in long-range aircraft and general detection systems. “SA-3000 long-endurance UAVs, SA-6800, Pterodactyl, Rainbow and other medium and high-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aircraft have the ability to detect and fight in one.
U.S. Army MQ-9 Reaper UAV. (U.S. Air Force photo)
A ‘Wing Dragon’-1 UAV at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in 2018. (Web screenshot)
It is worth mentioning that the unmanned combat aircraft such as the Pterodactyl and Rainbow mentioned in the Chinese Communist Party’s project documents are quite close in form and function to the U.S. military’s Predator and Reaper drones.
Documents Leak Project Goals ‘Compete with U.S. Weaponry’
The CCP project document states that “material structure and power are important factors plaguing small, long-endurance UAVs. The document describes that at present, “the power of small and medium-sized UAVs using piston engines and turboshaft engines are unable to meet the requirements of long-endurance medium- and high-altitude UAVs, and the development of power systems using the Rotax 914 as the main power is currently a trendy direction adopted by countries around the world (including China, which has made some achievements in copying the 914)”.
Chinese Communist Party documents leaked that the goal of the project is to develop a capability to compete with U.S. weaponry. Pictured is a screenshot of the document.
The document also states that “future warfare has developed into a joint three-dimensional warfare with five dimensions: sea, land, air, sky and electromagnetic, and it is necessary to gain control of the whole dimensional space”.
The document emphasizes that “the low-cost 24-hour platform is an important direction of development among the aerial defense projects – theater sheltering equipment under 100KG – that are hosted and developed to meet the needs of the new situation of future all-dimensional warfare.
The project document states that “the implementation of the project will enable China’s defense equipment to have the latest combat capabilities in the future three-dimensional warfare, and to form the ability to compete with U.S. weaponry, the military significance is particularly noteworthy”.
Details of the civil-military integration project for CCP military drones
The document discloses the contents of the project: development of tail-less flying-wing UAVs, conventional layout UAVs, duck and tandem aircraft, ground stations, experimental platforms for flying vehicles, engine research and testing equipment, and establishment of production enterprises.
The document also lists the key technologies and and indicators of “small long-endurance UAV”.
Key technologies: 1. overall integrated design technology of small long-endurance UAV; 2. SCAD image mission system and controlled recovery system; 3. low resistance field effect surface engineering structure efficient hybrid power; 4. high gain information gathering system: intelligent sensing screen, array, composite sensor (system) universal super micro integration system.
Technical specifications: 1. mission load greater than 6kg; 2. takeoff gross weight less than 50kg; 3. endurance greater than 24h; 4. flight speed range 100-160km / h; 5. takeoff and landing wind resistance greater than 10m / s, fixed-point recovery error less than 100m (CEP); 6. wing flexible deformation less than 5% of the half-spread; 7. chatter speed and dispersion speed greater than the maximum Flight speed and dispersion speed is greater than 20% of the maximum speed; 8. The efficiency of the power system after installation does not exceed 5%.
The project document also reveals “the establishment of a technological innovation system that combines industry, academia and research with enterprises as the main body, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University School of Aeronautics, Beijing United University School of Computer Engineering, Hebei Aviation Union University of Technology, etc., to accelerate the project development and economic integration of engineering science and technology”.
According to the public information of the land media, the main manufacturers and research institutions of China’s military drones include the China Aerospace Aerodynamic Technology Research Institute, which developed the Rainbow series of drones, the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute of AVIC, which developed the Wing Dragon and Linglong series of drones, the UAV Research Institute of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which developed the Hong Yan HY30 all-terrain general-purpose small and long-endurance drones, as well as a number of other subsidiaries of AVIC and universities such as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
As the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on technology theft and civil-military integration by the Chinese Communist Party, the major developers of Chinese military drones are on the U.S. no-purchase list as of the end of 2020.
However, the relevant industry, academia and research units mentioned in the CCP’s 2017 UAV program document have not yet been blacklisted by the United States.
The official website of the College of Aeronautics of Zhejiang University shows the college’s drone research center. (Screenshot from the official website of the College of Aeronautics of Zhejiang University)
Take the College of Aeronautics of Zhejiang University mentioned in the project document as an example. The official website of the College of Aeronautics of Zhejiang University shows that the College of Aeronautics and Astronautics was established in Zhejiang University on January 21, 2007, and the UAV Research Center of the College is a scientific research institution specializing in the development of UAVs, “with national level 2 secrecy qualification, with weapons and equipment quality system certification, equipment contractor registration certificate and weapons and equipment research and production license, fully qualified to design and produce UAV systems. UAV Research Center The four qualifications listed by the UAV Research Center of Zhejiang University’s School of Aeronautics are known in the industry as the “four certificates of military industry” and are passes to undertake orders for special equipment for the Chinese Communist Party’s military.
The document concludes with a list of industrialization details, including a pilot plant production plan and industrial planning.
Its production plan is: June – September 2017, the formation of an industrial team integrated with industry, academia and research, and the formation of a cooperative relationship with the relevant military equipment production and use units; October – December 2017, the completion of the investment and financing of the construction of the enterprise, fully transferred to the project; April – July 2108, the secondary development of laboratory samples; August – December 2018, the industrialized production of drones.
Its industrial plan is to set up Yuxi Industrial Group Hongyang Hongyuan UAV Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. and invest 130 million yuan to form an annual production system of 1,000 50-6 UAVs for industrial layout and product development.
According to the official website of the mega central enterprise – China National Weapons Industry Group, Yuxi Industry Group is a large category one enterprise directly under the Weapons Group and is a national key military preservation unit of the Communist Party of China. Up to now, the reporter did not find any information related to “Yu Xi Industry Group Hongyang Hongyuan UAV Equipment Technology Co.
In 2015, a woman who immigrated from China to the U.S. was arrested and prosecuted by the U.S. federal government for illegal trafficking of military weapons after allegedly sending an MQ-9 Reaper drone to the Chinese Communist Party; the woman was convicted of the charge in June 2016.
In August 2017, the U.S. Army Laboratory and the U.S. Navy found DJI drones to be a “combat risk” (collecting sensitive information such as geographic information, audio and video) and required the U.S. military to stop and remove DJI equipment and unload batteries and storage media. in May 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expressed strong concerns about the security of data collected by DJI drones. In the same year, the U.S. government banned U.S. federal agencies from purchasing drones manufactured in countries identified as a “security threat” and from using federal funds to purchase DJI drones due to concerns about sensitive data leaks and data security.
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