NUAA V/STOL UAV

V/STOL UAV
Role	UAV
National origin	China
Manufacturer	NUAA
Designer	NUAA
Status	In service
Primary user	China

NUAA V/STOL UAVs are Chinese UAVs developed by Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), and they are experimental UAVs intended to explore technologies of V/STOL.

Fan wing

Fan wing UAV is a V/STOL UAV developed by NUAA, and it is an experimental UAV intended to explore technologies of fan wing. Fan wing UAV is designed by a team led by NUAA Professor Ang Hai-Song (昂海松) and it is in twin-boom layout with high wing configuration. Fan wing UAV has cylindrical fuselage and tricycle landing gear. Majority portion of the main wing houses fan wing and the twin boom extending from the main wing rearward is elevated so that the twin tail and tailplane connecting the twin tail is above the fan wing and thus minimize any disturbance.

Loner

Loner (Du-Xing-Zhe or Duxingzhe, 独行者) UAV is an unmanned UAV developed by NUAA, and the general designer is a NUAA graduate student in his second year of pursuing master's degree, Mr. Zhang Shuai-Hao (张帅浩). Loner UAV is a rotary wing UAV with very unusual layout, and the inspiration of such design comes from the falling tree leaves from the branches. The fuselage is a semicircle plate connecting to a strip, and a propeller is attached to the end of the strip. The propeller provides lift during take-off and landing and thrust in level flight, but the directional control is partially provided by the unique shape of the fuselage itself: because its asymmetric shape, it would turn in the wind as the resistance caused by the wind increases, thus indirectly helps to make a turn.^[1]

Mirage Wing

Mirage Wing (Huan-Yi or Huanyi, 幻翼) UAV is a STOL UAV developed by a team of four NUAA graduate students led by Mr. Zhang Li-Feng (张立丰), and it made its public debut at the AVIC Cup UAV Innovation Competition held in Beijing in September 2009. Mirage Wing is in conventional layout with high wing configuration, and it has tricycle landing gear. Propulsion is provided by a two-blade propeller driven tractor engine mounted in the nose. One of the unique feature of Mirage Wing is that it lacks vertical stabilizer, and its function is replaced by the main wing, which can move in the range from - 3° to + 10°. When aircraft turns to the left, the left wing would drop and the right wing would rise, and this allows the aircraft to turn left. Similarly, when aircraft turns to the right, the right wing would drop and the left wing would rise. Mirage Wing is intended to explore aircraft carrier take-off and landing technologies to eliminate the need for catapult and arresting wires. Specification:^[2]

Length (m): 1.5
Wingspan (m): 2
Weight (kg):3.5

Osprey

Osprey (Yu-Ying or Yuying, 鱼鹰) UAV is an experimental UAV developed by NUAA, and it is designed to explore possibility of adopting remote control technology for aircraft carrier landing. Osprey made its public debut at the AVIC Cup UAV Innovation Competition held in Beijing in September 2009, and it won a third place award with cash price of ¥ 50000. Osprey is in conventional layout with high wing configuration and landing gear, with propulsion provided by a propeller driven tractor engine mounted in the nose.^[3]

Prowler

Prowler (You-Yi Zhe or Youyizhe, 游弋者) UAV is a VTOL UAV developed by a team of four undergraduate students of NUAA headed by Mr. Lan Cai-Ping (蓝蔡平) and Mr. Du Jian (杜健). According to Mr. Lan, the inspiration of design comes from movie 2009 film Avatar and Prowler is modeled after one of the fictitious aircraft in the movie. The fuselage of Prowler is similar to a conventional helicopter, but the tailrotor is replaced by a propeller that provide propulsion in level flight. The main rotor typical of conventional helicopter is eliminated, and Prowler has two ducted rotors instead, one on each side respectively, and they provide the lift during VTOL. Specification:^[4]

Length (cm): 70
Width (cm): 85
Height (cm): 25
Weight (kg): 1.1
Theoretical speed (km/hr): 480

Soar Sky II

Soar Sky (Xiang-Tian or Xiangtian, 翔天) II UAV is a VTOL UAV developed by NUAA, and it made its public debut at the AVIC Cup UAV Innovation Competition held in Beijing in September 2009. Soar Sky is in flying wing layout with twin tails. Propulsion is provided by a ducted fan mounted in the middle of the flying wing, and it consists of a pair of contra rotating rotors each with three blades. This ducted fan provides both lift during take-off and landing, and propulsion during level flight.^[5]

Tiltrotor

NUAA Tiltrotor UAV is a series of unmanned tiltrotor aircraft developed by NUAA. These UAVs are experimental aircraft that is intended to explore tiltrotor technologies. There are at least two types of tiltrotor developed by NUAA, both of which are very similar to a scaled down version of Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey,^[6] and both are in conventional layout with high wing configuration, and both have tricycle landing gear and both are twin engine UAV powered by a pair of three-blade propeller.^[7] The difference between the two tiltrotor designs is in the empennage, where one has only one vertical stabilizer,^[8] while the other has twin tail,^[9] thus has closer resemblance to V-22 Osprey. NUAA tiltrotors work exactly the same way V-22 Ospray does and they are Chinese attempt to develop its own tiltrotor technology.

Wind Cloud

Wind Cloud (Feng-Yun or Fengyun, 风云) UAV is a VTOL UAV developed by NUAA, and it made its public debut at the AVIC Cup UAV Innovation Competition held in Beijing in September 2009. Wind Cloud is a tail-sitter, but unlike most propeller driven tail-sitter where the engine is mounted in the nose, Wind Cloud is similar to SNECMA Coléoptère in that the ducted fan of Wind Cloud is mounted at the rear section of the fuselage. However, Wind Cloud differs from SNECMA Coléoptère in that the it does not have closed wing, but instead, a pair of conventional wings. The vertical stabilizer is mounted after the ducted fan.^[10] Wind Cloud is mainly intended for research on tail-sitter aircraft technology.

X-Aircraft

X-Aircraft (X-Fei-Xing-Qi or X-Feixingqi, 飞行器) is a VTOL UAV developed by a team of NUAA students headed by Mr. Liu Yi-Fen (刘以奋). This micro air vehicle (MAV) made its public debut at the AVIC Cup UAV Innovation Competition held in Beijing in September 2009. Weighing only at 200 grams, this UAV is also nicknamed as X-Warrior Cop (X-Zhan-Jing or X-Zhanjing, X-战警), though this nickname was given by Chinese media not the designer or official registration. The fuselage of X-Aircraft consists of two circular plastic board perpendicular to each other, and near one end, there’s an opening to house the propeller, while at the opposite end, control surfaces are installed. Strips connecting the two circular boards near the opening also form a square shape duct to protect the propeller, in addition to strengthing the structure of the two board.^[11] The unusual layout protects propeller from being damaged and the UAV is controlled by three-axis gyro.^[12]