BEIJING: China’s large civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Wing Loong-2H has been deployed to support the emergency communications after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday, according to the UAV’s developer.
The Wing Loong-2H was sent to conduct the mission after the quake jolted Sichuan’s Luding County at 12:52 p.m. Monday, having caused casualties and damage to buildings and roads.
The large UAV flew into the preset mission area at 6:44 p.m. Monday and started to carry out the survey and emergency communication support, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country’s leading plane-maker.
It helped establish an airborne communication network and sent real-time images of the quake-hit areas, supporting relief work and ensuring effective rescue operations.
The Wing Loong-2H features multiple attributes such as long range, long endurance, high payload and strong environment adaptability, thus making it possible to serve diverse missions in extreme disaster-hit regions where traffic, power supply and network communications are disrupted, according to the AVIC.
