The Chinese Pterosaur unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden formation flight in early 2015.
The Pterosaur formation flew over mountainous in south China’s Guizhou province, and landed back successfully after more than 20 minutes.
The formation flight validated Pterosaur's flight control systems and will help in joint unmanned missions.
Also known as Wing Loong, the Medium Altitude Long-Endurance(MALE) UAV was developed by the Chengdu Aircraft for long endurance surveillance and precision strike missions.
With a length of more than 9 meters and a wingspan of 14 meters, the Pterosaur UAV closely resemblese the US made General Atomics Predator\ Reaper drone family.
Pterosaur has a 200 kg payload capacity for sensors and weapons. Sensors include a forward looking infrared turret and synthetic aperture radar. Weapons include BA-7 air-to-ground missile, YZ-212 laser-guided bomb and 50-kilogram LS-6 miniature guided bomb.
Delivery of mass produced Pterosaurs is planned in 2015. China has reportedly exported unknown no of the type to Saudi Arabia in May 2014.
