China's AVIC Rolls Out First Wing Loong-2 Civilian Drone for Weather Monitoring

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) on June 29 rolled out a Wing Loong-2 drone designed to monitor the weather, instead of performing airstrikes.

A variant of the Wing Loong 2 military reconnaissance/strike combat drone already serves the Ministry of Emergency Management with disaster assessment with onboard sensors and restoring telecommunications.

In the future, AVIC said it will focus on the market demand of high-end UAVs, and promote the development and application of "Wing Loong" series UAVs in a wider range, deeper level and higher level in the civil fields such as large weather and emergency.

The military variant of the Wing Loong 2, often compared to the American MQ-9 Reaper, was unveiled in November 2016. Under each wing, there are three hardpoints for bombs and missiles weighing up to 480kg total.  In the civilian variant, the drone could instead carry advanced ground sensors and signal repeaters, as previously demonstrated in the disaster relief 2H variant.

In 2021, a Wing Loong 2 was modified to a weather control role, producing artificial precipitation in Northwest China’s Gansu province. Wang Dayong, a deputy chief designer in the AVIC, hinted at the development of another variant to fight fires.