The South China Morning Post reported that China conducted successful tests on July 26 of the TP200 civilian drone, which is capable of long-duration flights.
The newspaper noted that the TP200 is the first Chinese long-range civilian drone of the one-ton class, capable of flying for 24 consecutive hours with its maximum payload, and can cover a distance of 3,000 km on each mission. It was designed to carry out monitoring and reconnaissance missions, support maritime patrol missions, island supply missions, and geographical survey missions.
The aircraft's designers point out that, thanks to its flexible modular design, it can be reconfigured and used for monitoring arid regions, fighting forest fires, mapping, or surveying forests and water bodies, regardless of weather conditions.
According to the developer, Yitong UAV System, the aircraft can fly at altitudes of up to 600 m, fly at a speed of 200 km/h, and take off and land from dirt runways and from a runway only 300 m long. Some sources also stated that all of the aircraft's technologies and components were made entirely in China.
