China's homegrown unmanned aircraft takes to sky

China's homegrown HH-100 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completes its high-speed automatic taxiing test at Yongchang airport in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 3, 2024. (Photo/China News Service)

(ECNS) -- China's homegrown HH-100 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its high-speed automatic taxiing test on Wednesday, remaining stable throughout the process and being ready for its maiden flight, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The HH-100 UAV was fully assembled in Dec. 2023 and transferred to Yangchang Airport in southwest China's Sichuan Province for taxiing tests at the end of February 2024.

Consisting of two major parts, the unmanned aerial vehicle platform and the ground command and control station, the aircraft features low cost, high payload and large tonnage advantages.

It has a designed maximum take-off weight of 2,000 kilograms, a payload capacity of 700 kilograms, a maximum flight speed of 300 kilometers per hour and a maximum range of 520 kilometers at full weight. 

The aircraft will be mainly used in regional logistics, forest and grassland monitoring and firefighting, disaster relief, relay communications, and artificial precipitation.