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BZK-006 reconnaissance UAV

The UAV reconnaissance battalion of the Special Operations Brigade of the People's Liberation Army has begun to equip the BZK-006 reconnaissance UAV on a large scale, which can perform reconnaissance and surveillance, target positioning, damage assessment and other tasks. It is this type of drone that provides guidance for the Zhi-19 this time. The UAV can realize "point-to-point" communication and collaboration with helicopters, and intelligence data can be shared with extremely low latency. During the exercise, the sea surface was filled with fog and the pilot's vision was greatly disturbed. As a result, the pilots on the helicopter simply began to call the ground control station, requesting the relevant UAV to enter the air over the designated area. Subsequently, after receiving the data information from the UAV capturing the attacking target and sending it back in real time, the helicopter launched an over-the-horizon strike, and finally achieved a fixed-point strike beyond the visual range.

The development of the PLA's drone forces has attracted much attention in recent years. The number of UAV models is increasing day by day, and the obsolete equipment is beginning to be eliminated. UAV combat power is still growing healthily. Moreover, the most positive thing is that considering the rapid development of China's civilian drone industry, it will certainly feed back the growth of the PLA's drone strength.

Large-scale signal antennas have been built in China's southeast coastal bases. The newly deployed drones may be equipped with photoelectric detectors and data transmission antennas, which can be supported by large-scale signal antennas. The People's Liberation Army has disclosed UAVs such as BZK-006, BZK-011B, and JWP-2 to the outside world. It is not ruled out that one or several of them are newly deployed in the southeast coastal base. These UAVs are carried by wheeled transport vehicles, using a rail-type ejection method, and may also be equipped with a "Dragon Eye" pod that integrates TV, laser and infrared guidance. Reports speculate that China’s southeast coastal bases have undergone modernization and built a number of large hangars, but there is no sign of manned fighter aircraft being stationed. Therefore, these hangars may be used to station UAV troops.

UAVs and helicopters are the most important trans-horizon strike force of the modern army. They greatly extend the combat distance of the army, and have a more powerful precision strike capability than the traditional army. According to a November 2020 report from China Central Television, a certain army aviation brigade of the People's Liberation Army held a large-scale live fire drill at sea. For the first time, UAVs were used to guide armed helicopters to conduct precision strikes beyond visual range at sea. The helicopter group completed a live ammunition shooting exercise over the horizon in the severe weather shrouded in dense fog. According to reports, the shooting accuracy is 100%.

The participating officers and soldiers stated in an interview that offensive operations on the modern battlefield are nothing more than two parts, search and strike. In the past, the search operations required Army Aviation helicopters to conduct themselves. Many armed helicopters, such as Zhi-9, have limited situational awareness due to their early service time, which limits their ability to find targets. The newly entered UAV has high flying height, long endurance, and complete reconnaissance equipment, which can search for targets in a large range for a long time.

Once the target is found, the helicopter can be guided. The helicopter pilot only needs to press the launch button, and the missile can accurately attack the target under the guidance of the unmanned reconnaissance mechanism, which greatly reduces the burden on the pilots. Because the more onerous reconnaissance and guidance tasks will be handed over to the rear drone operators to complete. Military commentators analyzed that in this exercise, the PLA's BZK-006 UAV may come from the artillery brigade target support battalion or the special operations brigade UAV reconnaissance battalion.

UAVs can use their own photoelectric radar system to search for targets at high altitudes to make up for the lack of helicopter reconnaissance and search capabilities. The UAV has a larger flying range, which greatly increases the attack range of the helicopter group. In addition, the UAV can also use airborne lasers to provide laser irradiation for the semi-active AKD-10 of the Army Aviation Helicopter to prevent expensive armed helicopters from being hit by enemy air defense fire.