CUTTING EDGE
DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
A NEW, APPARENTLY VERY fast drone type made its first public appearance at a rehearsal for a national celebration in Beijing on September 21.
The long, narrow unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), reportedly designated DR-8 — but also referred to as the WZ-8 — appears to be configured for supersonic flight. It is likely a reconnaissance craft.
The DR-8 appeared on a trailer during a rehearsal for the October 1, 2019 celebrations commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. ‘The DR-8 would be expected to play a key role should there be a conflict with US aircraft carrier strike groups in the South China Sea or Western Pacific,’ South China Morning Post reported. The newspaper compared the DR-8 to a supersonic American reconnaissance drone that last flew more than four decades ago. The Chinese UAV ‘loosely resembles’ the Lockheed D-21, the newspaper pointed out.
The US Air Force and intelligence agencies deployed the D-21 for missions over China during the Cold War. Several of them crashed over the People’s Republic, leaving wreckage ‘scattered in various locations across the country’, according to the re…
