Foreign buyers eye Chinese drones

A Wing Loong drone on display at Zhuhai Airshow last year. Liang Xu / Xinhua

Technological advances have made unmanned vehicle an attractive deal

At least five countries are negotiating with China on buying its domestically developed Wing Loong drone.

"Wing Loong is quite competitive in the international market and we have delivered it to up to three clients," Ma Zhiping, general manager of China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp, said at the 50th International Paris Air Show.

Ma's company is the biggest exporter of aviation defense products in China and has a strong presence in the military aircraft market. It belongs to Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.

Established in 1909, the Paris Air Show is held every odd-numbered year at Le Bourget Airport in north Paris. This year's show started on Monday and will last through Sunday.

Ma said clients' feedback on Wing Loong is "very positive".

"They told us that they are satisfied with the drone's performance. Their uses of the Wing Loong have testified to its excellent combat capability, supreme maneuverability as well as convenience of maintenance," he said, quoting users as saying that the drone's actual performance has "surpassed its design specifications".

According to CATIC, Wing Loong was developed independently by China with full intellectual property to meet the requirement of the international market. The project was started in 2005 and its maiden flight took place in 2007. The drone's mockup was unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow in 2008 and a production type was displayed at the same air show in 2012, drawing intense attention from aviation enthusiasts and foreign military observers.

It can perform a wide range of tasks such as precision strikes and long-duration, long-distance reconnaissance. In June 2006, the government gave the green light to its export.

In addition to military purposes, the unmanned aerial vehicle can also serve an array of civil and scientific purposes such as disaster assessment, environmental protection, and atmospheric and meteorological research, the company said.

The drone boasts a range of more than 3,000 kilometers and a payload of 200 kilograms.

All the techniques used on Wing Loong were developed by Chinese researchers without any foreign assistance, said Nie Haitao, deputy director of AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, which designed the drone.

"In the initial stage of Wing Loong's development, only nine researchers were designated to take part in this work and most of them were young professionals without much experience," he recalled. "Yet they succeeded and now you can see they have done a good job."

"Currently five to six nations in Africa and Asia have expressed their intention of buying Wing Loong and we are negotiating over that," Ma said.

He added several foreign countries have told his company that they want to introduce Chinese drones that are even more advanced than Wing Loong, but whether those types could be exported is up to government policy and political decisions.

"Of course we, as a defense products supplier, are willing to introduce more of our cutting-edge weapons to the international market. But it is the government that has the final say."