May 10, 2019
New satellite imagery acquired by Digitalglobe shows that China has increased the deployment of Guizhou Aviation Industry Group (GAIG) EA-03 Xianglong high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Yishuntun airbase in Jilin province. The platform, identified by its unique box wing design and V shaped vertical stabilizers, is often considered China’s answer…
February 10, 2017
By Nick Waters
(The Conflict Armaments Research (CAR) Group, an NGO working on the ground documenting weapons and ammunition, have confirmed that the plastic tail fins mentioned in this article are in fact moulded. CAR’s findings can be read in this comprehensive paper on multi-purpose IEDs.) Introduction The conflicts in Syria and Iraq have seen a proliferation of drones…
June 1, 2016
In case you missed it, over the US Memorial Day weekend new satellite imagery was published showing some new developments on Woody Island, China’s important governing outpost for its claimed islands in the South China Sea. The space snapshots acquired during April by ImageSat International (ISI) show new drone deployments to the expanded island adding…
February 25, 2016
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
While lawmakers were publicly pushing President Obama to let Jordan borrow drones, U.S. or coalition Reapers were quietly being deployed to the country to track and kill IS. Satellite imagery shows that Jordan’s Muwaffaq airbase is now home to American-made Reaper drones. The Reapers were deployed in March 2015, almost a full four months before…
October 11, 2015
Predator clones. China’s not the only one that’s built copies of one of the most widely known UAVs. Of course, not many stack up well against the Abe Karem original. That’s certainly the case with the Anka, Turkey’s version. While Turkey’s been pushing ahead in its indigenous drone program, the elusive strike mission that so…
June 29, 2015
Satellite imagery of Hangzhou Bay shows that China has recently renovated a reserve airfield for dedicated drone operations in the East China Sea. With military aviation being a priority, China’s been slowly moving toward operating more capable UAVs. Analysts and policy wonks alike have little doubt those capabilities will be put to good use as…
April 30, 2015
Iran’s southern coastline remains an important deployment location for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe shows a probable Mohajer-4 UAV attached to a pneumatic rail launcher on the side of an unmarked airstrip located near a naval base at Konarak. The airstrip is located on the coast of Iran’s southeast-most province of Sistan…
March 26, 2015
DigitalGlobe imagery from November 2014 shows ADCOM’s United 40 Block 5 UAV at the company’s test airstrip located south of Al Dhafra Airbase. When the US denied the sale of armed Predator drones to fulfill UAE Air Force requirements in 2002, the Gulf country set out to fill the gap by developing its own medium…
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