China's Large Capacity Unmanned Freighter Drone, TP500 Completes First Flight

China's indigenous TP500 unmanned freighter drone completed a successful maiden flight Saturday, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) said in a sataement.
The freighter conducted a 27-minute maiden flight and performed smoothly during the whole flight. The TP500 is a winged drone and capable of highe speeds than helicoper drones.
The TP500 has one of the highest cargo-carrying capacity to take-off weight ratio among general-purpose unmanned transport platforms. Its maximum range is 1,800 km. The freighter can transport cargo to as far as 500 km, carrying the standard 500 kg load, said AVIC.
Developed by the AVIC First Aircraft Institute, the TP500 is the country's first large unmanned freighter produced under the Chinese Civil Aviation Regulation requirements, said the AVIC.
The maximum take-off weight is 1.4 tons, the commercial capacity is 500 Kg, the maximum speed is 260 km/h, and the maximum range is 1,000 km. The whole machine is mainly manufactured using composite materials, and is assembled and connected by an advanced integrated process, which reduces the structural weight to the greatest extent. Mainly to meet the needs of the unmanned freight transportation market in China’s mainland and islands, as well as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and other countries and regions, the TP500 can be retrofitted to perform remote sensing mapping, human shadow engineering, communication support, emergency rescue and other tasks.
The unmanned transport aircraft is developed by the First Aircraft Institute as the overall development unit, and Yitong UAV System Co., Ltd. as the overall assembly unit. Guangwei Composites undertakes the development of prepreg materials and large parts.