New Chinese LACM UnveiledBy Robert Wall
ZHUHAI, CHINA

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (Casic) has unveiled a new air-launched, land-attack cruise missile.
The weapon, first shown here at Airshow China, is the latest member of the C-802 missile family. The CM-802AKG, as the new weapon is designated, also has longer range than the air-launched version of the anti-ship C-802A, a company official says. The CM-802AKG range exceeds 200 km, whereas the C-802A has a range of around 180 km.
The missile weighs less than 700 kg and is equipped with a multipurpose warhead of slightly below 300 kg mass. One of the main design features of the weapon was achieving the range target at low weight, the Casic engineer notes.
The CM-802AKG uses either an infrared seeker or TV-seeker for terminal guidance. It uses a strap-down inertial navigation system, but GPS-guidance kit could be installed.
The missile is now in production in China, the Casic official says, and the company now is pursuing export customers.
China Developing Ducted-Fan UAVBy Robert Wall
ZHUHAI, CHINA
China’s AVIC is developing a ducted-fan unmanned aircraft for surveillance missions.
The design, called the Whirlwind Scout, is similar to Honeywell’s ducted-fan system and is supposed to be able to remain airborne for 20 to 40 minutes and follow a flight path of up to 100 waypoints. Multiple patrol patterns can also be programmed into the system.
The 8-kg. gross takeoff weight vehicle has an altitude ceiling of 3,000 meters. The cruise speed is 60 km./hr. with a maximum speed of 90 km./hr. Communications range is around 5 to 10 km.
The system is GPS/INS guided, and, in addition to the air vehicle, consists of a ground control station, a simulator, and two support equipment containers. The ground station can store up to 240 images.
In information displayed at Airshow China 2010, Avic Defense says the system is designed to be able to perch and stare to observe areas or shadow terrorist suspects. With a noise of around 60 dBA, Avic says the system can not be audibly detected by its target at a standoff range of 125 meters. The detection range for a human is 560 meters, with identification possible at 70 meters. Target location error is given is a mere 40 mm.