Two unmanned maritime helicopters were deployed on Nov 29 in Weihai, East China's Shandong Province, expected to improve capacity of maritime traffic management and response to accidents at sea.
Independently developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd. (AVIC), the AR-500 helicopters have high-quality and reliability, as well as an outstanding adaptive capacity to the environment. They are capable of carrying out missions in various kinds of conditions, whether on a plateau, in a desert, at sea or among mountains.
A view of one of the AR-500 unmanned maritime helicopter deployed on Nov 29 in Weihai, East China's Shandong Province [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The helicopters are highly automated and easy to operate and maintain.
Each helicopter is 7.33 meters long, 1.58 meters wide and 2.43 meters tall. With a load capacity of 75 kilograms they can be remotely controlled from up to 150 kilometers away.
They have a maximum range of 400 kilometers and a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour.
Each helicopter is equipped with advanced capabilities for thermal imaging, long-range video transmission, and emergency supply delivery.
They are currently the most advanced unmanned helicopters in operation in China’s maritime system.
The two AR-500 helicopters will play a role in conducting large-scale search and rescue operations and monitoring oil spills in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea.
The AR-500 helicopter completed status identification in 2019 and more than 40 of the type have been delivered to domestic and foreign users for supervision, communication relay, maritime monitoring, forest fire prevention and emergency rescue.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
