Wing Loong I
Contents
Description
The Wing Loong I(翼龙-1; Pterosaur-1) , designated as the GJ-1 (攻击-1; attacker-1) in PLAAF service, is one of the UCAV currently in PLAAF and foreign services; after seeing the potential of UCAVs during the Iraq War, a team of engineers from CAC started their development of UCAV from basic components and developed a prototype with such components. By the time of the advancement of PLAAF technologies, the team revoked their design with more standardized design in view of already acquired export orders by 2007; this led to the newly developed Wing Loong I in 2010's Zhuhai Air Show and been in-service with PLAAF in early-2010s, as well as exported to surrounding and Middle East countries as their new, economic UCAV fleet.
Introduced in Update "Drone Age" as one of the new UCAVs introduced in-game, Wing Loong I was the first PLAAF UCAV in service and is one of the earliest UCAVS to come from Asia. While the AKD-9 AGMs lack both range and penetration compared to its contemporaries, the missiles are still adequate against enemy ground targets. It is however to be noted that the high SP cost to spawn a UCAV must be weighed against other available options, such as aircraft and helicopters, and only be spawned in if the player has no other close-air support option or deems the drone's benefits to be worth the high spawn cost.
General info
Flight performance
| Max speed (km/h at 1,000 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | ||
| 220 | 220 | 7500 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 250 |
Details
| Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
| X | X | X | X | X |
| Limits | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
| Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
| 390 | 450 | N/A | N/A | N/A | ~__ | ~__ |
| Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
| < 200 | < 200 | < 200 | > ___ |
Survivability and armour
While UCAVs use composite materials in their construction, as they are not designed for direct enemy confrontation they cannot realistically survive any enemy fire, be it surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, aircraft cannon fire, or proximity-fused shells. Avoid being hit at all costs if possible to save the UCAV from plummeting back to earth.
Armaments
Suspended armament
The Wing Loong I can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
- 2 x AKD-9 missiles
Usage in battles
Like other available Strike UCAVs in the game, the Wing Loong I is available to all players playing ground battles above a certain BR, and is beneficial to players who lack BR-appropriate aircraft or helicopter close air support options.
You start off by spawning at an altitude of 4,000 m above the battlefield. Priority targets should be enemy SPAAs to allow your team's as well as your own safety from an express ticket back to the ground. Enemy SPAAs are usually found stationary at the enemy spawn, though be on your guard for players moving closer to the front lines as well. If there are no SPAAs around, your next target will be enemy tanks that are near/on the capture points. Once you fire both AKD-9 missiles, you have three options:
- Loiter over the battlefield and provide reconnaissance: Just because you can no longer use your missiles doesn't mean you can't help your team! Fly around the battlefield and scan the area with your amazing optical camera, particularly with its thermal imaging capabilities. Once you spot any enemy vehicles that pose a threat to your team, quickly mark them on the map and tell your teammates using the in-game chat (alternatively if you have any squad mates, you can work with them and point out enemies nearby using the squad marker)
- Land and rearm: Once the two ATGMs are used, turn around and fly back towards the airbase. Once you land, begin any repairs and necessary rearming so you can take off. It is to be noted that UCAVs cannot land at helipads to resupply, nor do they have any brakes in their wheels - so try and bleed all your speed before touching down to shorten your braking distance. It should be worth noting that the UCAVs suffers from a very low top speed and a horrid climb rate, making the return to base and return to the battlefield incredibly lengthy. In terms of battlefield survival, the drone's altitude is its only saving grace, as helicopters/attack aircraft will generally be at lower altitudes and SPAAs will have no trouble sending a very slow target back to the hangar screen. Consequently, fighting at low altitudes should be regarded as a suicide mission.
- Bail out of the vehicle and spawn in a more capable vehicle: While it feels counterintuitive to bail out of a vehicle that cost 750 spawn points, it is the fastest and best way to get you back into the battle. Using the spawn points you accumulated from the carnage your two missiles scored, you can get enough to spawn another tank, an attack aircraft or a helicopter. The advantage of this is that if you have taken out enemy anti-aircraft vehicles you can enjoy much more freedom to attack enemy tanks, and it also enables your teammates to also join in on the action with their own aircraft or helicopters.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Spawns at altitude
- Exceptional optical camera
- Has a clear thermal imager and sight stabilization for ease of target identification
- Available to everyone to use
Cons:
- Low max speed
- Horrid climb rate
- AKD-9 missiles are quite underpowered
- Access to only two ATGMs for a price higher than most helicopters and attack aircraft (which can carry far more ordnance)
- Takes a lengthy period of time to rearm and return to the battlefield
- Faces anti-aircraft vehicles which can knock UCAVs out of the sky before the missiles even get within range, which can cause a 'severe emotional event'.
History
Mainland China has been closely observed on different types of UAVs including those which flew and being shot down by PLAAF or those of foreign countries; as Israel and USAF has proved the necessity of deploying UAVs for recon or eliminating ground targets, the development for domestic UCAVs was given the green light at early 2000s with limited resources under the team of Li Yidong (李屹东), whose mother was also a employee of Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
The team managed to gather spare parts from gliders and civilian products (such as the brakes, from motorcycles) and built an earlier prototype within 2 years; but this also meant the team has to rebuilt a new UCAV from scratch with every possible new standards introduced to the production, with 100 orders overseas overhead and new technologies from J-10's production, the new Wing Loong UCAV passed for tests in 2007 and its mock-up first shown in 2010's Zhuhai Airshow. Eventually introduced to PLAAF in early 2010s and was first shown to the public in 2012's Zhuhai Airshow then 2015's VJ Day parade known as GJ-1 UCAV, countries of Central Asia and Middle East purchased multiple batches of them and they became the cornerstone of Chinese export weapons where they scored multiple victories over insurgents and sometimes even fellow UCAVs, along with CH (彩虹, Rainbow) series UCAV.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (中航工业成都飞机工业集团) | |
|---|---|
| Jet Fighters | |
| J-7 | J-7II* · J-7D · J-7E |
| J-10 | J-10A |
| JF-17 | JF-17** |
| Drones | Wing Loong I |
| *Unlicensed and reverse-engineered version of the MiG-21. | |
| **Jointly developed and built by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. | |
| See Also | Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau · Pakistan Aeronautical Complex |
| Strike UCAVs | |
|---|---|
| USA | MQ-1 |
| USSR | Orion |
| China | Wing Loong I |
