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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese Army is continuing its investigations and will later announce any information that does not affect the confidentiality of the investigation
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: It has not yet been determined whether the detainees belong to ISIS or another organization
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Around 10 people of different nationalities, including Lebanese nationals, were detained
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese army arrested a number of people in the Matn area of Mount Lebanon with possession it has not disclosed
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: We have strong indications that there are martyrs, injuries, and trapped people in the Salah al-Din area
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Citizens should avoid Salah al-Din Street because anyone who approaches it is at risk of being directly targeted
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Reality is that there is a very limited retreat of the vehicles, with the occupation forces providing cover undeer fire up to Salah al-Din Street
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Claims that the Israeli occupation has withdrawn from areas in the neighborhoods of al-Zaytoun, al-Tuffah, and al-Shujaiya are false
Hamas: The two delegations stressed that any negotiations must lead to the achievement of our people's goals and aspirations, foremost among which is ending the war and the complete withdrawal of enemy forces
Hamas: A delegation from the Hamas leadership, led by the head of the leadership council, Mohammad Darwish, met with an Islamic Jihad delegation, headed by its Secretary-General, Ziyad al-Nakhalah

Chinese Engineers Found "Weaknesses" in Latest US Combat Drone

  • By Al Mayadeen
  • Source: South China Morning Post
  • 22 Sep 2021 22:43
3 Min Read

Despite the XQ-58A drone's revolutionary sentiment, Chinese engineers found flaws with its design.

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  • The XQ-58A Valkyrie completed its first flight in 2019.
    The XQ-58A Valkyrie completed its first flight in 2019.

Chinese aviation engineers reported that they found a flaw in the new US Air Force Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie combat drone. They asserted that the experimental system may not be as effective as predicted in combat.

A publication in the South China Morning Post reports that the aircraft design receiving processing through reverse engineering showed poor maneuverability. The aircraft is only able to withstand a pull of only about 1.7 times that of gravity (G), while fighter aircraft are capable of reaching 7Gs. This results from a US focus on electronic and stealth capabilities rather than aerodynamics.

Citing senior engineer Lu Yuanjie and colleagues in a paper published in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Aircraft Design, the article says that such unmanned models are predicted to "become the main force on the battlefield and become a new leading power in the transformation of the man-machine coordinated combat model."

“Although the XQ-58A will still be in the testing and verification stage in the short term, the accumulation of related technologies and the verification of application models will affect the basic style of future air combat, and we should pay full attention to this,” said Professor Guo Zheng and colleagues in a paper published in National Defence Technology in February.

Guo added that with the possibility of the US using swarms of such drones departing from the small islands or from Taiwan in a possible war with China, the latter has many options to counter such cutting-edge weapon systems.

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The drone is low cost

With a relatively low cost of US $2 million, it is expected to be produced and deployed on a large scale. Last month, the US Air Force awarded a US $13.2 million contract to defense contractor Kratos in order to get the XQ-58A ready for service by 2023. Since 2019, the drone has made six test flights and suffered two incidents in landing and take-off operations. 

Loyal Wingman project

According to data released by the air force, the recorded top speed of the Valkyrie is Mach 0.95 (1164 kilometers per hour) so it's subsonic. China, on the other hand, is developing high-speed drones that it claims can attain speeds of up to Mach 5 (6125.22 kph).

The XQ-58A Valkyrie features a trapezoidal fuselage that integrates swept-back main wings, a V-shaped tail. The stealthy design makes the UAV a difficult target to detect and track.

The long-range strike aircraft incorporates commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. It can be controlled either manually or through pre-programmed flight control systems.

"The UAV has a length of 9.14m and a wingspan of 8.2m. The dry weight of the aircraft is 1,134kg, while its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 2,722kg," according to Airforce Technology.

The XQ-58A Valkyrie can carry a maximum payload of 544kg. The open mission system architecture allows it to integrate customer-specific payloads according to the mission requirements.

 

 

  • drone
  • Drones
  • China
  • US

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