In China's UAV family, there is a mysterious Wuzhan 8 drone, which has attracted great attention from the outside world.
It is currently the fastest reconnaissance aircraft in the world, capable of flying to four times the speed of sound and an altitude of 40,000 meters, providing real-time target information for China's anti-ship ballistic missiles.
How does it do that?How does it work?
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union developed advanced reconnaissance planes in order to obtain important information such as each other's nuclear and military forces.
At that time, air defense was not yet developed, so high-altitude and high-speed was an effective means to improve the survivability of reconnaissance aircraft.
The United States has successively developed the high-altitude U2 and the high-altitude and high-speed SR71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft.
The "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft reached 3 times the speed of sound and an altitude of 30,000 meters, second only to the American X15 verification aircraft.
The X15 demonstrator is rocket-powered and can fly to 6 times the speed of sound and an altitude of 100,000 meters, but cannot take off and land autonomously.
The "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft used an early combined power engine, which was turbojet at low speed and sub-combustion ramjet at high speed, achieving the "double three" index.
However, with the advancement of air defense systems, the Soviet Union deployed advanced anti-aircraft missiles such as "Beech" and S300, which made the "high-altitude and high-speed" route lose its advantage.
The "double-three" indicator is not difficult to intercept for long-range air defense missiles such as S300 and Patriot, and it is even easier to penetrate defense at low altitudes.
Due to the limitations of the engine performance at that time, people could not continue to increase speed and altitude, so the "high-altitude and high-speed" route was abandoned, and the reconnaissance aircraft switched to the "unmanned" and "stealth" route.
However, with the development of superb technology, the "high-altitude high-speed" route has a new vitality.
The "double three" is not strong enough in the face of modern anti-aircraft missiles, but the reconnaissance aircraft of the "double four" indicator will be able to intercept almost no air defense missiles.
The SR72 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which is being developed in the United States, is planned to use a scramjet engine to reach high speeds of more than 5 times the speed of sound.
However, the scramjet technology is very difficult, and the United States has not yet succeeded in developing it.
When China was developing a high-altitude and high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, it wisely chose another technology, which was the liquid rocket engine as the power for the Wuzhen-8 UAV.
The Wuzhan 8 UAV is actually more like the X15 of the United States, but it is more technologically advanced and has the ability of strategic campaign reconnaissance, and it is the world's first reconnaissance aircraft to achieve the "double four" index.
The biggest feature of Wuzhan 8 is the "double four" indicator, that is, 4 times the speed of sound and an altitude of 40,000 meters.
Such a high speed exceeds the interception capabilities of most anti-aircraft missiles.
For example, the US military's Standard 6 anti-aircraft missile has a maximum launch altitude of only 30 kilometers. The minimum launch height of the Standard 3 anti-missile missile is between 80 and 100 kilometers.
Wuzhen-8 happens to be in this window period, leaving most missiles helpless.
Although the US military's Patriot 3MSE anti-aircraft missile is capable of hitting this height, its range is not far, and the flight speed of the Wuzhan 8 reaches Mach 4, giving the Patriot 3MSE a very short interception time.
The reason why Wuzhan 8 was able to do this is that it is equipped with two liquid rocket engines.
Some analysts believe that the liquid rocket engine of Wuzhan 8 may be the ** engine of China's Long March 4C rocket, and the model is YF50.
The liquid rocket engine has its own fuel and oxidizer and does not require air to work, which allows the Wuzhan 8 to easily break through the altitude limit of 40,000 meters.
Moreover, there is no air intake tract for the Wuzhen 8, so there is no need to consider the airflow problem, nor the working speed of the engine, and the speed limit is also easy to solve.
You must know that the YF50, as the first engine, will eventually put the satellite into orbit, and it has even sent the satellite to the lunar orbit, and its working speed is far more than 4 times the speed of sound.
In fact, the current "double four" indicator of the Wuzhen 8 is only to ensure the needs of the voyage. If you need to evacuate a dangerous area quickly, the speed of the 8 can be even faster.
However, the use of liquid rocket engines also has the disadvantage of short endurance, so the Wuzhan 8 UAV cannot take off on its own, but needs a carrier aircraft of the H-6 modification to take it to a high altitude for release.
According to documents leaked by the U.S. military at the beginning of this year, Wuzhan 8 has been in service in China for many years and has performed many missions.
The U.S. military believes that Wuzhan 8 carried out at least one operation over the island of Taiwan, and the Taiwan side has no knowledge of this.
In China's combat system, the Wuzhan 8 has a very important role: to become the "eyes" of China's anti-ship ballistic missiles.
Friends who are concerned about the military should know about China's anti-ship ballistic missile system, which is one of China's powerful means of dealing with US aircraft carriers.
However, for an anti-ship ballistic missile to be launched, there is one necessary condition: to track the position of the US aircraft carrier in real time.
In war, the US aircraft carrier fleet will constantly move at high speed, and it can move dozens of nautical miles in an hour.
With the current technology of reconnaissance satellites, repeated reconnaissance of a sea area, even in specially designed orbits, requires an interval of several hours.
Therefore, in order to carry out continuous tracking and reconnaissance of US aircraft carriers, reconnaissance planes in the air are indispensable.
As a high-altitude, high-speed, and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the Wuzhan 8 is one of the most survivable models among China's existing reconnaissance aircraft.
Therefore, when conducting reconnaissance of the US aircraft carrier, the Wuzhan 8 can fly to the forefront, and can even conduct volley reconnaissance of the US aircraft carrier.
In this way, China's anti-ship ballistic missiles can continuously obtain the target location of the US aircraft carrier, providing the latest target information for the upcoming launch of the anti-ship ballistic missile.
This will improve the accuracy of the anti-ship ballistic missile's hit, and it will be more effective in striking US aircraft carriers, and the role of the Wuzhan 8 is very important.
The Wuzhan 8 UAV is a masterpiece of China's superb technology, the "eye" of China's anti-ship ballistic missiles, and a sharp weapon for China to deal with US aircraft carriers.
Its high-altitude and high-speed performance allows it to fly freely on the battlefield and provide important intelligence support for China's strategic campaigns.
Its mystery and strength make the outside world full of awe and curiosity about it.