NUDT Queen Bee
Queen Bee (Feng-Wang or Fengwang, 蜂王) UAVs are Chinese UAVs developed by National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), primarily developed for battlefield reconnaissance / surveillance. It’s worth to note that NUDT does not always produce UAV it has designed because series production might be contracted out to other Chinese UAV providers.
Quee Bee 1
Queen Bee 1 was the first NUDT UAV of Queen Bee series, and its development was completed in 1988. Queen Bee 1 is a remotely piloted aerial vehicle and does not have autonomous flight capability. Queen Bee 1 is in twin-boom layout with a two-blade propeller driven by a pusher engine installed at the rear end of the fuselage. The vertical stabilizers are joined at the top, as opposed to being joined at the root as in most UAVs in twin-boom configuration. The landing gear system consists of a pair of skids.[1]
Queen Bee 8
Queen Bee 8 is a micro air vehicle (MAV) in conventional layout with T-tail, and landing gear consists of a pair of skids. Propulsio is provided by a two-blade propeller driven by an engine that is mounted above the fuselage in front of the wing. Externally, Queen Bee 8 appears identical to AW-2 Falcon Hawk and both UAVs adopt the same airframe design. What differentiate the two UAVs are their respective flight control systems which are independently developed by their own respective developers. Queen Bee 8 is equipped with GPS and can be pre-programmed to follow complex flight path. When the production is contracted out to other manufacturers, the name is sometimes changed simply to Bee 8 (Feng 8, 蜂-8). Specification:[2][3]
- Endurance: > 1 – 2 hr depending on flight path
- Radius: > 6 – 50 km depending on flight path
- Weight: 6 kg
- Length: 2 m
- Wingspan: 2.7 m
- Ceiling: 3 km
- Speed: 40 – 79 km/hr
Queen Bee 100
Queen Bee 100 is equipped with GPS like Queen Bee 8, and can be pre-programmed to follow complex flight path like Queen Bee 8. Specification:[4]
- Endurance: 4.5 max
- Radius: 100 km
- Weight: 5 – 8 kg
- Length: 2.35 m
- Wingspan: 2.82 m
- Ceiling: 5 km
- Speed: 90 – 150 km/hr
Sentry
Sentry (Shao-Bing or Shaobing, 哨兵) is a ducted fan VTOL UAV developed by NUDT, and it is mainly intended for disaster rescue missions by search survivors after disaster had struct. The entire system is designed for rapid deployment and can be airborne within two minutes after taking out of storage. The general designers of Sentry UAV is Mr. Zhou Yi (周易) and Mr. Li Xiao-Hua (李晓华) of NUDT.[5] Externally, Sentry UAV resembles Allied Aerospace ISTAR UAV, except the landing gear of Sentry consists of four lege instead of a ring adopted by ISTAR. Sentry UAV utilizes modular design concept and navigation is provided by GPS, and in order to detect lives buried under the rubble, Sentry is also equipped with infrared detection system. Sentry UAV can be either remotely piloted or fully autonomous, and it can carry emergency medication for air drop. Sentry UAV made its public debut in 2013 when it won a special award at the 10th Challenger Cup competition held in Beijing.[6]