China's AS700 Manned Airship Completes First Long-Distance Transfer Flight

TapTechNews August 21st news, AVIC stated that China's independently developed manned airship AS700 has completed its first cross-provincial long-distance transfer flight today, flying nearly 1000 kilometers with a total flight time of 12 hours and 44 minutes.

During this transfer, the R & D team mainly tested the airship's own performance and the long-endurance and long-range transfer flight capabilities. In the future, the airship will also carry out flight comfort tests to provide a reference for subsequent commercial operations.

The AS700 civil manned airship is independently developed by the Special Flight Institute of AVIC, which belongs to AVIC. It is the first new-generation airship in China with completely independent intellectual property rights. It can accommodate 10 people to ride at the same time, and the single flight time can reach 10 hours. It is mainly used in the fields of air tour, emergency rescue, and airborne geophysical exploration.

TapTechNews found that the AS700 manned airship adopts a conventional single-bladder layout, a streamlined airbag shape, four X-shaped hard trapezoidal tail fins, and a single-point single-pillar non-retractable landing gear; it adopts thrust vector technology, which can realize short-distance flight and vertical takeoff and landing; the maximum takeoff weight is 4150 pounds (about 1882.4 kilograms), and the maximum range is 700 kilometers; it has the characteristics of low single-seat price, convenient customer service, green and low-carbon, safe and economical, etc.

The official said that according to the plan, the first airship will be delivered this year. After being put into commercial operation, this type of airship can not only be used for low-altitude tourism, but also cover multiple application scenarios such as low-altitude transportation, low-altitude mapping, and emergency rescue.