China tests largest cargo drone as low-altitude economy takes off By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has flown its largest unmanned cargo aircraft yet designed for civilian use as the world’s largest drone-making nation ramps up test flights of autonomous aerial vehicles (UAVs) that it could eventually transport anything from transports to people.

With a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine aircraft took off on a maiden flight on Sunday, state media said, citing developer Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co., for a journey of about 20 minutes in southwest of Sichuan province.

China’s civilian drone makers are testing larger payloads as the government pushes to build a low-altitude economy and the aviation regulator will see a 2 trillion yuan ($279 billion) industry by 2030, for a four-fold expansion starting in 2023.

With a wingspan of 16.1 m (52.8 ft) and a height of 4.6 m (15 ft), the aircraft, built entirely by the government-funded Tengden, is slightly larger than the most popular light aircraft in world, Cessna 172 with four seats.

Tengden’s test flight followed the maiden flight in June of the HH-100, a cargo drone developed by the Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) with a payload capacity of 700 kg (1,543 pounds) and a range flight distance of 520 km (323 miles).

Next year, AVIC plans to test its largest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2 tons of cargo over a distance of 2,000 km (1,243 miles).

In a report this year, the government for the first time identified the low-altitude economy as a new engine of growth, with vertical mobility seen as a “new productive force” in areas such as passenger transport and freight deliveries.

In April, aviation authorities issued a production certificate to UAV maker EHang Holdings, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, for its passenger-carrying drone, China’s first such document for an autonomous passenger drone.

A month later, cargo drone firm Phoenix Wings, part of delivery giant SF Express, began delivering fresh fruit from the island province of Hainan in southern Guangdong using Fengzhou-90 drones developed by SF, a unit of SF Holding.

By 2023, China had more than 2,000 enterprises involved in the design or manufacture of UAVs, led by DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer.

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