Lack of options to copy for China's 4th-gen attack helicopter
Staff Reporter 2013-09-10 12:03
Pilots from the PLA's Feng Lei Aerobatic Team in front of a WZ-10 attack helicopter in Beijing, Sept. 9. (Photo/Xinhua)
China is ready to develop fourth-generation attack helicopters with stealth capability, Wu Ximing of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), designer of the PLA's WZ-10 attack helicopter, has claimed in a report by the country's official newswire Xinhua.
The PLA currently deploys the WZ-9 designed by the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation as well as the WZ-10 and WZ-19 designed by the Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation as its three main types of attack helicopter. The WZ-9 is a second-generation attack helicopter based on the French AS365 Dauphin, while the WZ-10 and WZ-19 are both third-generation helicopters.
There remains a major obstacle to developing a more advanced model, however, as the RAH-66 Comanche designed jointly by Boeing and Sikorsky in the United States is one of the very few examples of a fourth-generation attack helicopter in the world. The Comanche program was scrapped in 2004 before the helicopter went into mass production, however, with US$7 billion having been spent on its development.
So despite China having a lack of options from which to copy a fourth-generation helicopter, Wu went even further and looked toward the fifth generation, which Wu predicted would be able to travel at double the 300 kilometers per hour that is the top speed of helicopters already in service. Wu also predicted fifth-generation helicopters would have a range double or triple the current limitations, similar to fixed-wing aircraft.
Qiu Guangrong, the head of AVIC's helicopter research institute, forecast that China will be able to design and produce its own fourth-generation helicopter with stealth capability by 2020.
