The large Chinese-made twin-engine unmanned transport aircraft completed its maiden flight test on Sunday in Zigong, southwest China’s Sichuan province, the China Media Group reported.
The milestone comes as China embarks on ambitious efforts to boost its low-altitude economy and reflects progress in the rapidly growing sector, which analysts say is being driven by strong policy support and growing technological innovation.
This unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a wingspan of 16.1 meters and a height of 4.6 meters, as well as a payload capacity of up to two tons, making it the largest fully domestically produced unmanned transport aircraft in China, tailored to meet growing market demand.
The 20-minute flight test at Zigong Fengming Airport showed that the aircraft’s systems worked as expected, the report said.
Equipped with functions such as convenient loading and unloading as well as a high level of safety and intelligence, the UAV is intended to open up new application scenarios for the transport of goods and enable intelligent progress at low altitudes.
This new test followed the successful test flight of a ton-class electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that crossed the Yangtze River on August 1, marking another series of breakthroughs in the industry.
China is rapidly developing its low-altitude flight sector, which was described as a key industry of the future and a new growth engine in the 2024 Government Work Report. The central government’s recent reforms to the integrated transport system also emphasize efforts to further develop this sector.
Observers said this new development shows China’s technological leap in aerospace and its focus on high-quality growth through smart logistics and low-altitude operations.
In 2023, China’s economy in the low-altitude flight industry grew 33.8 percent to 505.95 billion yuan ($70.59 billion). In the first half of this year, nearly 608,000 new drones were registered and more than 14,000 drone operators held valid civil aviation certificates, Xinhua news agency reported.
The scale of China’s low-altitude economy is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2026, according to a report released on April 1 by the China Center for Information Industry Development.
