Recently, the U.S. media outlet "War Zone" noticed that China's first manned tiltrotor has made its maiden flight. According to related photos, it must be an official leak, as ordinary people could not take such a shot. The domestically produced manned tiltrotor aircraft made an unexpected appearance, which is as surprising as the hypersonic missiles like YJ-15, 17, 19, and 20.

This manned tiltrotor adopts a tricycle configuration, with the front landing gear housed in the nose, and transparent sections on both sides of the nose; the rear landing gear is housed in the fuselage, and there is a small door covering the rear landing gear. The cockpit windshield uses a two-main-side design, with three small windows on the sides, and the cabin door should be located between the side windshield and the small windows.

The rotor tilting method is similar to the V-280 Valor rather than the MV-22, with the power compartment divided into two parts. The front part tilts the rotor and减速器, while the rear part of the turboshaft engine remains stationary. This design reduces movable parts, avoiding the problem of the engine rotating and blocking the rear fuselage, which would prevent the installation of a door on the rear fuselage. The tail wing uses a T-tail design, and there is a control surface on the I-shaped part of the T-tail.

The overall layout of this aircraft resembles a hybrid of the Zhi-9 helicopter and the Yun-12 light transport aircraft. The nose is similar to the Zhi-9's flat mouth + small window, the fuselage is between the basic Yunn-12 and Yunn-12, and the way the rear fuselage tapers is exactly the same as the Yunn-12. However, the number of windows is reduced from 5 to 3, and the cabin door does not have windows.

The Yunn-12 and Zhi-9 are both products of Harbin Aircraft Industry Group (HAIG). This new manned tiltrotor aircraft from China is clearly a new product from HAIG. Considering that countries often use existing subsystems to test next-generation aircraft configurations to reduce the cost of developing new aircraft, it is possible that the body of this domestically produced light manned tiltrotor aircraft may have used many parts from the Yunn-12 and Zhi-9.

The domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft that recently made its maiden flight had already been unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow in 2022 in the form of a model. However, military fans at the time never imagined that this aircraft could make its maiden flight within less than three years. The manufacturing of the power units was so frugal that they didn't even bother to build a larger-scale model, saving money on the surface but spending it on the inside. This is completely different from international partners who loudly announce their achievements before doing anything.

Comparing the model from the past with the current real aircraft, the front wheel position has moved forward from below the cockpit to below the elongated nose. The rear landing gear has upgraded from fixed to retractable, and the landing gear has a retraction compartment instead of being exposed. However, the engine exhaust nozzle on the real aircraft is also exposed without any shielding.

Overall, the aerodynamic shape of this aircraft is very similar to the Italian AW609 tiltrotor. Both have a fuselage slightly larger than a helicopter + short wings + tilting wings + T-tail design. Judging from the proportion of the cockpit relative to the fuselage, the two tiltrotor aircraft are about the same size, and the domestic tiltrotor aircraft is slightly smaller. Their general performance should be quite close.

However, the rotation method of the AW609's rotors is the same as the MV-22, while the domestic tiltrotor uses the same as the V-280. The T-tail of the AW609 has a greater sweep angle, and the vertical part has no control surface, whereas the domestic tiltrotor has a control surface. When flying, it can turn by deflecting the control surface, resulting in better high-speed performance compared to the AW609.

War Zone image

Initially, it is judged that the basic indicators of this domestically produced light tiltrotor aircraft should be similar to the AW-609.

The Italian AW-609 tiltrotor has a length of 14.1 meters, a width of 18.3 meters, and a height of 5.1 meters. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67A engines, with a maximum takeoff weight of 8 tons, an effective payload of over 2.721 tons (6000 pounds), a cabin volume of 6.3 cubic meters, a baggage compartment volume of 1.58 cubic meters, and can carry up to 12 passengers when carrying passengers; the maximum range is 700 nautical miles / 1389 kilometers, and with auxiliary tanks, it is 1000 nautical miles / 1852 kilometers, with a service ceiling of 7620 meters, ground effect hover height of 10000 feet / 3048 meters, and non-ground effect hover height of 6000 feet / 1828 meters.

Fixed-wing aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of less than 10 tons often face the awkward situation of limited payload and are difficult to undertake strike missions. In this era, no one would think that the small Yun-12 could perform any combat tasks. Therefore, the main purpose of the domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft recently disclosed should still be civilian use, actively participating in the low-altitude economy.

In terms of military applications, the role of the new tiltrotor aircraft should be similar to the land-based Zhi-9, undertaking some anti-submarine, search and rescue, transportation, and armed reconnaissance duties. Thanks to its faster speed and short takeoff and landing capabilities comparable to helicopters, it has great potential in narrow island reefs. However, in other applications, it is not as capable as the Zhi-20, so it is best not to think about armed assault and transporting the Lynx. It is not suitable for such tasks.

Moreover, this tiltrotor aircraft has the front wheel close to the nose, severely limiting the installation space for radar and electro-optical equipment, and the space available for installing radar is even smaller than that of the Zhi-9. Therefore, the main purpose of this tiltrotor aircraft should be civilian use, occasionally undertaking reconnaissance and search and rescue missions.

Nevertheless, the difficulty of going from zero to one is much greater than going from one to ten. This domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft is more likely to solve the issue of having something, cultivate a tiltrotor development team, accumulate relevant technology, and only then will the next generation of larger and more capable tiltrotor aircraft have the opportunity to board the flight decks of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.

The manned version of the XV-15, and the domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft recently disclosed, indeed look very similar

At this stage, it cannot be ruled out that the domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft recently disclosed is a technology demonstrator. Before the F-22, there were the YF-22 and a series of X-series demonstrators, and before the MV-22, there was the smaller XV-15 to test the technology. Also, the XV-15 tested the performance of tiltrotor aircraft on ships.

The XV-15 demonstrator also had the landing gear deeply embedded in the nose, leaving no space for radar, and had a two-person cockpit + five windows on each side, with an overall size likely slightly larger than this domestically produced tiltrotor aircraft. Both China and the United States do not urgently need small aircraft, so who can say that the tiltrotor aircraft recently disclosed is not just a demonstrator? This possibility objectively exists and cannot be ruled out.

War Zone image

However, in this era, a demonstrator does not hinder mass production. In this era, a low payload is not an unacceptably problem. If the passenger cabin is removed and replaced with a satellite communication cabin, and the cargo hold is modified into a functional cabin, it would become a quite excellent tiltrotor drone!

Bell's HSVTOL high-speed tiltrotor unmanned attack aircraft concept

The newly disclosed drone could be a simple light tiltrotor aircraft, or a technology demonstrator for the next generation of tiltrotor aircraft, or a manned test aircraft for the domestic tiltrotor drone, and it might even have all three identities... In this era, it's really impossible to guess... Completely impossible to guess, the possibilities are simply too numerous.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540207447416373796/

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