China introduced its new Wing Loong-3 (WL-3) unmanned aerial vehicle with intercontinental flight range and the ability to attack airborne targets. The flight range of the WL-3 is up to 10,000 km, the duration is up to 40 hours. According to Chinese media, it can carry 16 missiles and can be equipped with the latest PL-10E air-to-air missile.

Zhou Yi, the project’s chief designer, noted that the Wing Loong-3 can carry out operations such as long-range reconnaissance, attacking high-priority targets, and extended air patrols after takeoff. He explained that the UAV can also perform civilian tasks such as measuring atmospheric indicators and search and rescue operations.

The Wing Loong-3 was developed by the Chinese aircraft construction association Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG, Chengdu), which is part of the Chinese state aircraft construction company AVIC (Chinese Aviation Industry Corporation).

The drone is an improvement of the Wing Loong-1 and Wing Loong-2 currently in mass production and is designed according to a scheme similar to the American General Atomics MQ-9A/B UAV.

Wing Loong-3 is equipped with a turboprop engine with a tail thruster. The maximum take-off weight is 6200 kg with a payload of up to 2300 kg (including 2000 kg on the eight external suspensions and 300 kg in the interior). The flight time reaches 40 hours.

AVIC said they are working to get Wing Loong-3 into mass production.

In addition, China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation Limited demonstrated a comprehensive drone-fighting system that should detect, attack or intercept them using electronic warfare tools. The system includes radars, long-range and medium-range air defense control, and means to intercept small UAVs to defeat large offensive drones. In particular, HK-17AE anti-aircraft missile systems and the latest FK-3000 anti-aircraft missile-cannon systems can be used against devices, as well as for supporting ZR-1500 unmanned ground vehicles.