A Closeup Look at China's Divine Eagle Drone

A Closeup Look at China's Divine Eagle Drone. HT: Popsci.

By using the single deck bus in the background (probably 3.2 meters tall, like most buses of its type) as a very crude visual yardstick, a very rough comparison suggests that the Divine Eagle is about 6 meters tall, and 15 meters long (since most high altitude large UAVs have a wingspan to body length ratio of 2.5:1 to 3:1, the wingspan of the Divine Eagle is likely its be 35 to 45 meters across). With a maximum take off weight of at least 15 tons, the Divine Eagle is the world's largest UAV, edging out the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

In late June 2015, new photos emerged of the Divine Eagle prototype, allowing a clearer look at its details. The Divine Eagle has a single engine nestled between its tailfins, with a diameter of over 1 meter.

This makes the engine likely to be a medium non-afterburning turbofan producing 3 to 5 tons of thrust, which in turn is usually enough to power a UAV of 12-18 tons in maximum takeoff weight. In comparison, the largest American UAV in open service, the RQ-4 Global Hawk, uses a F-137-RR-100 turbofan engine with 3.4 tons of thrust. The Divine Eagle has a five wheel landing gear layout. Read and see the full story here.

China Flies The 'Divine Eagle' it's largest 'Stealth Bombers' hunting drone.

China Flies The 'Divine Eagle' it's largest 'Stealth Bombers' hunting drone. (Popsci).

New images of testing materials have emerged of China's largest ever UAV, the secretive Divine Eagle.

Compared to other Chinese aviation projects like the J-20 stealth fighter and Y-20 heavy transport aircraft, the lack of publicly available photos of the Divine Eagle suggests that like the American RQ-180, this giant drone is a strategic and sensitive asset. 

Given the presence of official diagrams and wind tunnel testing, the Divine Eagle is likely to be a real Chinese project, built by the "black project" division of the venerable Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

Reliable Internet sources also indicate that the Divine Eagle conducted its first flight in December 2014 or early 2015. Hmmm.......The U.S. has the 'White Elephant' a.k.a. F-35 , perhaps they should rename it to the 'Dodo bird'?Read and see the full story here.