At the recent air show held by China in Changchun, in addition to the high-mobility performance of China's J-20, which attracted attention at home and abroad, China's generous display of the "Wuzhen-8" hypersonic drone also attracted attention There has been a lot of turmoil. Recently, the Indian media "Eurasia Times" published an article on its website titled "Chinese hypersonic drones can be used to carry out suicide attacks on the US F-22 and F35 stealth fighter ."
Screenshots of related reports
The Indian media quoted the South China Morning Post's previous report on the "Wuzhen-8" hypersonic speed, believing that the "Wuzhen-8" drone will respond to the US aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea or the Pacific Ocean. It plays a key role in the war and believes that the "Wuzhen-8" hypersonic UAV is similar to the D-21 UAV developed by Lockheed Company more than 40 years ago.
Since the "Wuzhen-8" UAV is very mysterious, its earliest public appearance was the National Day military parade in 2019. Since the official media did not publish relevant technical information, we are here to attract attention and use the U.S. D-21 hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle. The relevant performance of man and machine will be used to judge the role of the "Wuzhan-8" hypersonic UAV in future combat.
D-21
in the military parade As early as the 1960s, the United States successfully developed the high-altitude and high-speed SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft. Although the SR-71 can easily avoid the interception of the opponent's missile due to its excellent performance, But to avoid international influence and diplomacy According to the turmoil, the United States plans to develop the hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle for reconnaissance. According to technical requirements, the aircraft speed of the new hypersonic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft must reach Mach 3 or above. The design work is also carried out by the experienced Lockheed Company. The "Skunk" factory was responsible for the drone, which was called the D-21, nicknamed the "Tag Board", and cost $5.5 million (1970 USD).
D-21
Since the reconnaissance missions of the D-21 are often carried out on the other side of the ocean, the mother aircraft needs to be carried to a designated location before being delivered. The original mother aircraft of the D-21 were two A-12s modified by the US military, which were carried on the back of the aircraft. It is carried on the body, and is delivered when the speed reaches Mach 3.2 after takeoff. At the same time, the D-21's engine must work at full strength. In order to increase the success rate of the delivery, the US military also specially designed a launcher on the mother aircraft. However, in subsequent tests, the delivery of D-21 was far from smooth as expected.
In the first launch experiment, in order to reduce resistance, the US military specially installed a nose cone cover and a tail spray mask on the D-21. Unfortunately, the nose cone cover that fell off during the launch process directly hit the leading edge of the aircraft and the engine. The first test had to end in failure.
In the second and third experiments that followed, D-21 successfully separated. In the third experiment, D-21 successfully flew 2,600 kilometers and completed 8 hovers. However, in the fourth experiment Just as the two planes separated, the engine equipped with D-21 suddenly stopped, and then something happened The roll rolled directly into the mother aircraft, and the mother aircraft disintegrated. Although the pilot and the launcher ejected and in time to escape, the launcher was still killed in the sea. After that, the mother aircraft plan of the program was canceled and replaced with B -52H bomber hangs at the root of the left wing for release.
Since the B-52H cannot reach the scheduled delivery speed of the D-21, a rocket engine is also installed below the D-21 to ensure that it can reach a speed of Mach 3 or above after release, thereby ensuring the flight of the D-21 Safety, the D-21 carried out a total of 4 reconnaissance missions after entering service, all of which were targeted at our country, but they all ended in failure.
The first reconnaissance mission took place on November 9, 1969. During the flight, the navigation system of the D-21 suddenly failed, and eventually it flew over Siberia of the former Soviet Union and crashed. The wreckage was obtained by the former Soviet Union. The second flight mission of
was in 1970. The mission was very successful and eventually flew 4,900 kilometers. However, fortunately, an accident occurred during recovery and was eventually buried in the sea. The wreckage and technical data were also not recovered.
's third reconnaissance mission was on March 4, 1971. A similar situation occurred again with the second mission, and the mission failed.
The fourth mission was on March 20, 1971. During the flight, the navigation system of the D-21 also suddenly failed, and it eventually crashed into the Xishuangbanna forest in Yunnan Province, my country. The final wreckage was recovered by us. The country obtained it, and then the D-21 program was cancelled. It was not until 1977 that the U.S. military officially recognized the existence of the D-21 hypersonic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. In August 2010, our country disclosed the wreckage of the D-21 to the public in a museum. It caused a lot of waves at the time.
The D-21 wreckage in our country's museum
D-21 has indeed become the top reconnaissance equipment of that era with its sci-fi appearance, hypersonic performance and unmanned combat and other new concepts. From previous missions, it is not difficult for us to find that D-21 The shortcomings of the 21 are as obvious as the advantages. The level of the electronics industry at that time obviously did not match its performance standards. As a result, the reliability of the D-21 was too poor. It was reported that when it was delivered, even after being debugged at the "Skunk" factory, it arrived at the U.S. military. Failures would still occur while at the base, and the final result was that all missions performed failed, and D-21 was eventually abandoned.
The D-21B UAV under the wing of the B-52H
After talking about the American D-21, let’s go back to China’s “Wuzhen-8” hypersonic UAV. The two have similarities and at the same time makes a big difference. From the appearance point of view, both are arrow-shaped, with triangular wings, and the entire fuselage and wing are integrated in the design. The difference is that the "Wuzhen-8" uses an upper-reverse design in the wing tip area, while the D-21 is equipped with It has a vertical tail, and the D-21 is equipped with a large circular inlet at the nose position. It is the ramjet engine , while China's "Wuzhen-8" does not have an air inlet and is equipped with a rocket engine. Both are designed for supersonic cruise and take into account certain stealth performance, but in comparison, they are "nothing" The J-8" has obviously stronger stealth performance in terms of appearance design.
Wuzhen-8 has a sharp head and an arc-shaped back. These are common features of the new generation of hypersonic waverider aircraft
In terms of launch method, the American D-21 is bombed by B-52H The Indian media believes that China's "Wuzhen-8" UAV is large in size and has two rings on the top of the fuselage, while China's H-6N has an anchor on the lower abdomen of the fuselage. It is speculated that H-6K/N is a potential carrier aircraft.
In terms of recycling, the American D-21 at that time was limited by technology and could not recycle such a huge drone, so it could only recycle the reconnaissance equipment cabin, while the D-21 could only blow up or crash into the sea on its own, and was a one-time use. product, and China's "Wuzhen-8" has a solid landing gear, which means that the "Wuzhen-8" can perform repeated missions.
"无Detection-8"
In addition, the biggest advantage of China's "No Investigation-8" compared to the D-21 is that it solves the problem of instability during flight, according to the Indian media citing the "South China Morning Post" Reports claim that China has achieved hypersonic flight There has been a breakthrough in stable communications, and the "Wuzhen-8" hypersonic drone is considered to be the clearest beneficiary. At the same time, Indian media stated that China has mastered liquid fuel propulsion technology, although solid fuel is more stable than liquid fuel. Strong, but the liquid fuel can control the burning speed. Therefore, the "Wuzhen-8" can not only launch multiple times, but also adjust the thrust and consumption.
Objectively speaking, India's idea of using the "No-Reconnaissance-8" to carry out "suicide attacks" against stealth fighters such as the United States F22\F35 can indeed be realized. After all, the flight speed of the "No-Reconnaissance-8" is faster than that of the U.S. military's two stealth fighters. This stealth fighter is much faster. It can crash the enemy stealth fighter after locking it with the anti-stealth radar , but in fact it is not practical.
"Wuzhen-8" is a hypersonic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, not the hypersonic missile . Its main function is reconnaissance rather than destruction. Its locking performance against fighter aircraft is limited. "Wuzhen-8" relies on its Hypersonic performance can be used for reconnaissance to maximize its advantages. As for the interception of enemy fighters, it can be left to air defense missiles or stealth fighters.
India's idea is closer to the "swarm" strike concept. We can use a 5th generation aircraft or a future 6th generation aircraft as the hub of air command, carrying dozens or even hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles with specialized air strike capabilities. It is a more practical combat concept to use aircraft to destroy enemy targets, rather than rely on the single outstanding advantage of a piece of equipment to engage in conceptless combat operations.
