China-developed firefighter aircraft draws 12 tons of water in 15 seconds during test flight: AVIC

China's domestically developed firefighter aircraft AG600M, code name Kunlong, made a successful test on Tuesday, in which the aircraft drew and dropped 12 tons of water. Purchasing contracts of six of the aircraft have been signed, the Global Times learned from the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the manufacturer of the aircraft.

The test was conducted in an airport in Zhanghe in Jingmen, Central China's Hubei Province. The aircraft completed a series of missions for the test flight. It can draw 12 tons of water in 15 seconds, the AVIC said in a statement sent to the Global Times.

The aircraft kept a good and stable condition during the test and precisely dropped the water at the target, according to the statement.

The test effectively evaluated the core capacity of the aircraft. It is a critical step forward for the aircraft to serve China's emergency rescue system and natural disaster prevention and control system, read the statement.

At the test flight site, two companies signed contracts with the AVIC to purchase six AG600M aircraft, indicating a firm step forward of the aircraft toward the market, according to the statement.

The AG600 is a major aviation equipment developed to meet the urgent needs of China's emergency rescue system and the construction of the national natural disaster prevention and control system. It is China's first large special-mission aircraft developed according to civil airworthiness standards. The AG600, together with the Y-20 large transport aircraft and C919 large passenger airplane, are three of China's key projects in large aircraft development.

The AG600 has a maximum take-off weight of 60 tons and a maximum water holding capacity of 12 tons. With a pressurized cabin, fly-by-wire control, integrated avionics and comprehensive task system, the aircraft is safer, can transport more water, has longer range, and has better potential for serialized development than the original demonstrator aircraft.

The model has achieved 100 percent domestic independent production including engines and key airborne systems based on the domestic industrial, supply and innovation chains.

Media Source: Global Times

China’s next-gen solar-powered drone expected to make debut soon

China is expected to unveil its next-generation, solar-powered large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with very long endurance soon, which will have a larger wingspan than its predecessors that allows it to carry larger payloads for missions including reconnaissance, monitoring and communications relay in near-space, said Chinese experts familiar with the matter on Monday.

The remarks came after the country's latest drone of this kind made its maiden flight earlier this month.

In 2017, China's first solar-powered large drone, the CH-T4 of the world-famous CH drone series, made its maiden flight, staying aloft for 15 hours at altitudes of more than 20,000 meters. This made China the third country to develop such an aircraft following the UK and the US.

Having a wingspan of around 45 meters, the CH-T4 has set a very high starting point for China's solar-powered drone development, with all core technologies and equipment being domestically made, a source familiar with the Chinese drone industry told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this month, the Qimingxing-50 solar-powered drone, developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), made its maiden flight. It has a 50-meter-class wingspan and can also reach 20,000 meters in altitude.

The Qimingxing-50 is the first high-altitude low-speed drone with an ultrahigh aspect ratio developed by the AVIC, the first large drone to use a twin-fuselage configuration, and the first all-electric large UAV platform with solar energy as the only power source.

An even larger solar-powered drone, with a wingspan of over 60 meters, a service ceiling of more than 20,000 meters, an endurance of more than a month and a mission payload of 30 kilograms was unveiled by CH UAV company in its information material at Airshow China 2021, which was held in September in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province.

Based on the general pattern and development cycle, China's new-type solar-powered drone, which has a larger wingspan and can carry larger payloads, could make its debut at the upcoming Airshow China 2022 in November, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese aviation expert, told the Global Times on Monday.

From the CH-T4 to the Qimingxing-50, then to the next-generation solar-powered drone, wingspans are getting larger and larger, expanding from 45 meters to 50 meters then to more than 60 meters.

A larger wingspan will allow the drone to carry more solar panels to provide sufficient electricity to support the extended flight, Fu said. Larger and more capable payloads also use more electricity, he pointed out.

As long as the electricity generated during the day is enough to support the drone's flight overnight, the drone can remain in the sky for months, Fu said.

Another reason to have a larger wingspan is that it will provide a higher lift-drag ratio for the aircraft, extending its endurance, the expert said.

The developers must have resolved issues related to structural strength so that a larger wing would not break, Fu said. "More advanced solar batteries will also be installed, which will also contribute to the power generation."

Other countries like the US have developed solar-powered drones, including NASA's Helios, which has a wingspan of about 75 meters, and Odysseus, which is a product of a Boeing subsidiary with a wingspan of 74 meters.

Generally speaking, China's development in solar-powered large UAVs can rival its foreign counterparts, Fu said.

Another expert who asked for anonymity told the Global Times that solar-powered drones can play very important roles in both military and civilian fields, including in missions like reconnaissance, surveillance, communications relay, forest firefighting and maritime monitoring.

Because such drones have the potential to stay in the air for months and even years at near-space altitudes, they can act as quasi-satellites, the expert said. They also have advantages over other types of aircraft.

Compared with satellites, solar-powered drones are more accurate, can theoretically remain in mission areas permanently and have lower operating costs.

Compared with traditional aircraft, solar-powered drones can cover larger areas and have longer endurance.

Compared with aerostatics, solar-powered drones are more maneuverable, the expert said. If needed, a fleet of solar-powered drones carrying different payloads can also be deployed to meet different mission requirements, he said.

Solar-powered drones can focus on a specific area for a long time, or they can conduct patrols over 2,000 or 3,000 kilometers. They can also be used jointly with satellites, which will yield even better results, the expert said.

When serving civilian purposes, like providing communications signals for remote regions, solar-powered drones are more cost-effective than setting up base stations on the ground. This method is even better than the US' Starlink satellites, the expert said.

Media Source: Global Times

More policy tweaks likely to settle realty

China may signal more policy adjustments to stabilize the real estate market as a regulatory official recently noted that "bubble signs and the financialization trend in China's real estate sector have been substantially reversed", experts said.

Industry experts are interpreting the official's comment as an affirmation by the nation's top banking and insurance regulator of continuous deleveraging actions of property developers in the past two years.

In China, financialization in the real estate sector refers to some property developers' forays into various kinds of financial services, in order to build themselves into diversified, tightly knit conglomerates.

In August 2020, China unveiled the "three red lines" to constrain property developers' debt according to three balance sheet metrics, said Ma Hong, senior research fellow at the Zhixin Investment Research Institute.

Under the orderly arrangements made by local governments that are tasked with ensuring that responsibilities are fulfilled by all stakeholders, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission guided banks to take an active part in finding real estate funding solutions, grant credit to qualified home developers, and take various measures to promote action for timely delivery of presold homes, said the CBIRC official on Friday.

The regulator cooperated with other government departments, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China, the central bank, to launch measures promptly, improve the policy toolbox, and use special loans offered by policy banks to support timely delivery of presold homes that are overdue and difficult to deliver in an effort to protect the legitimate interests of homebuyers and maintain the big picture of social stability, said the regulatory official.

China Development Bank, a policy financial institution, offered the nation's first special loan to the city of Shenyang in Liaoning province on Thursday, to ensure timely delivery of presold homes in the province, said the official.

The CBIRC swears by the principle "houses are for living in, not for speculation", and is focused on the goals of stabilizing land prices, housing prices and expectations, continuously improving long-term mechanisms for real estate financial management, satisfying the reasonable financing needs of the real estate market, and properly handling risks of some leading property developers such as China Evergrande Group, said the official.

Ma at the Zhixin Investment Research Institute said, "The official's remarks may provide clues to the moderate improvement of financing convenience for property developers at the end of this year and may signal further policy adjustments to stabilize the real estate market."

On Friday, China Construction Bank Corp, a large State-owned commercial lender, said it plans to establish a house rental fund of 30 billion yuan ($4.19 billion). The bank itself will contribute 29.999 billion yuan to the fund, and a wholly owned subsidiary of CCB Trust Co, a subsidiary of the bank, will contribute 1 million yuan.

Through investments in the existing assets of real estate enterprises and by transforming them into rental housing, the fund aims to increase the supply of market-oriented long-term rental housing and government-subsidized rental housing, and explore a new model of real estate development for both rental housing and homebuying. The term of the fund is 10 years provisionally, with scope for assessment of continuity at its expiry, CCB said.

S&P Global (China) Ratings, a wholly foreign-owned credit rating agency in the domestic market, said in a recent report: "We believe that under the overall direction of ensuring timely delivery of presold homes and stabilizing people's livelihoods, the majority of the problems associated with unfinished homes and homebuyers' refusal to pay mortgages on such homes will be properly settled eventually. It will not lead to a sharp increase in default risks at small and medium-sized banks."

Media Source: China Daily 

China gets ready for travel during the National Day Holiday

People's enthusiasm for travelling is rising in China for the upcoming week-long National Day holiday.

Air ticket prices and booking volume are seeing an obvious increase during the week-long period compared with this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the Chinanews.com reported Tuesday.

By Sept 16, the average price of the booked air ticket during the National Day holiday surpassed 700 yuan ($97.93), increasing nearly 40 percent compared with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, said the online travel agency TravelGo.

Air tickets for some routes are in short supply during the upcoming holiday, with the price of economy class on some routes surging to full price, said another online travel platform Qunar.

The discounts for air tickets have been greatly reduced from Sept 28 to 30 on some popular travel routes, such as Beijing-Dunhuang, Shanghai-Lijiang, Guangzhou-Jiuzhaigou and Tianjin-Jieyang.

The top 10 most popular destinations by flight during the upcoming National Day holiday are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Changsha and Qingdao, according to the online tour platform Ctrip.

With the relaxation of entry and quarantine policies in some countries and regions, the search and order volumes of air tickets on international routes have significantly increased.

Data from the TravelGo showed that the average price of the international flights jumps 18 percent year-on-year during the week-long holiday.

By Sept 25, Japan became the hottest flight destination from China, with the number of booked flight orders for that route surging 67 percent week-on-week during the holiday. Moreover, the air price of the route increased 32 percent.

Popular overseas flight destinations also include the UK, South Korea, Singapore and Russia.

The short-distance trip, such as local and surrounding tours, remains mainstream during the holiday due to some uncertainties brought by the pandemic, with domestic scenic spots, hotels and minsu (a Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast establishment) expected to usher in a large number of visitors, TravelGo said.

TravelGo predicted that parent-child travel, rural travel, as well as leisure outdoor and self-driving travel will become the most popular tourism “themes” during the National Day holiday. People's attention to high-star hotels with various leisure and vacation themes increased by 130 percent after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

In addition, young tourists prefer in-depth urban tours and various light outdoor games. According to the TravelGo, the search volume for various light outdoor travels has increased by over 150 percent month-on-month since September. Light outdoor sports including city-walks, frisbee, flag football, paddle board, cycling and kayaking have become popular experiences among young tourists.

Media Source: China Daily