China Designs Indigenous UAV Stealth Fighter, and Bootlegs Some US Models
When I hear the phrase "knock-off Chinese products", I usually think of either the bootleg DVDs I get on the subway or the cheap electronics I get in Midtown. But a new report in Defense Professionals notes that the Chinese military has channeled that same skill for replication towards closing their UAV technology gap. By simply copying US technology, China has created a stock of advanced drones, and gained the technical knowledge to create some interesting native UAVs as well. The story lists most of China's major UAV programs, most of which simply knock off successful American UAVs like oh so many cheap copies of Crank 2 or Louis Vuitton handbags. They claim that the Yi-long reconnaissance drone is nothing more than a xerox of our Predator, with the Xiang-long and WuZhen-2000 drones copying the Global Hawk. However, the article also...