AVIC's AR500C VTOL UAV conducts maiden flight

摘要

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced on 21 May that it has conducted the first flight of its AR500C/ AV500C vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prototype. The company's China Helicopter Research and Development Institute (CHRDI) said in a statement that the multirole platform, which is based on the AR500B/AV500B and was shown bearing the designation AV500C-PT01, took to the skies on 20 May for 20 minutes at a CHRDI facility in Poyang in China's northeastern Jiangxi Province. AVIC said that the rotorcraft, which is being developed for high-altitude operations -especially from plateaus - has a maximum take-off weight of 500 kg and a service ceiling of 6,700 m from a take-off altitude of 5,000 m. It has an endurance of 5 hours, a cruising speed of 165 km/h, and can achieve a maximum level flight speed of 170 km/h.