The ASN-206 is a lightweight, short-range, tactical multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) developed by Xi'an ASN Technology Group Company, a commercial company owned by Northwest Polytechnic University (NPU). The ASN-206 can be used for day/night aerial reconnaissance, electronic warfare and countermeasures (EW/ECM), battlefield surveillance, target positioning, artillery spotting, border patrol, nuclear radiation sampling, aerial photography and prospecting, and electronic countermeasures. It is one of the most popular and advanced tactical UAV systems fielded by the PLA.
The development of the ASN-206 completed in December 1994 and the serial production began in 1996. Winner of the 1996 Chinese National Award for Technology Improvement, the ASN-206 was reportedly developed under the assistance of Tadiran Spectralink Ltd, a Israeli company specialising in the airborne communications and electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems, but this cannot be confirmed.
A versatile aerial platform, the ASN-206 could be fitted with various mission payloads according to the requirements. The most significant improvement on the ASN-206 is its real-time datalink, which transfers video images to the ground control without any delay, while older-generation UAVs have to be recovered before the photo intelligence can be retreated. The UAV is being widely used by the PLA for various tactical roles.
The ASN-206 uses a tail-pushed, twin-tail braced design. The advantage of this layout is that the propeller driven by the tail-mounted engine would not disturb the sight of reconnaissance system.
The ASN-206 can be configured with regular or infrared cameras or television seekers which would give the system a near-real-time capability. Some reports indicated that the electro-optical observation package on the ASN-206 was derived from an observation device purchased from Israel's Tadiran Ltd. The navigation systems of the UAV incorporates GPS and radio command.
The UAV is controlled by a digital flight control and management system, and is connected with the ground station through its intergrade radio system and advanced mission control system. The video data from the optical/infrared cameras are transmitted to the ground station in real time.
ASN-206 URAV displayed during the Zhuhai Air Show (Source: Chinese Internet)
The ASN-206 UAV production line (Source: Chinese Internet)
Mission Equipment
For intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles, the ASN-206 carries a stabilised multi-mission optronic payload, which has a modular design with different combinations of sensors:
Monochrome and color CCD, or
3 color CCD's, or
8-12micro-metre infrared and 3-5 mm focal plane array infrared cameras, or
Laser range finder and designators
Optronic payload specifications:
Diameter: 354mm Height: 548mm Elevation: 15 to -105 degree Azimuth: 360 degree Field of View (FoV): 0.37 degree narrow (CCD), 1.3 to 18.2 degree zoom (CCD); FoV IR (both 8-12 and 3-5 mm): 2.4/8.2/29.2 degree for narrow/medium/wide Power: 280W 28 V DC
For electronic warfare and countermeasures (EW/ECM) roles, the UAV is fitted with a JN-1102 EW/ECM suite, which can scan, intercept, analyse, monitor, and jam enemy ground-to-air communications at 20~500MHz. The system consists of a UAV-mounted intercept subsystem, a UAV-mounted jamming subsystem and a ground-based intercept and jamming control subsystem.
PLA crew preparing an ASN-206 UAV before launch (Source: Chinese Internet)
Systems
A standard ASN-206 system comprises:
6-10 aircraft
Command and control vehicle
M obile control vehicle
Launch vehicle (each carrying one UAV)
Power supply vehicle
Intelligence processing vehicle
Maintenance vehicle
Transport vehicle
Launch/Recovery
The UAV is transported and
launched by a 6 x 6 flat-bed truck. An accessorial rocket is used
when taking-off. Landing by parachute.
The ASN-206 UAV is launched from a flatbed truck (Source: Chinese Internet)
Powerplant
The UAV is powered by a horizontally opposed, air-cooled, 4 cylinder, 2 stroke HS-700 piston engine rated at 51hp.
ASN-207
The ASN-207 was based on, and derived from the ASN-206. The ASN-207 is said to have a maximum range of 600km, and has twice as much as the mission payload and flight endurance time of the ASN-206.
The ASN-207 UAV features a mushroom-shape antenna for receiving control signals (Source: Chinese Internet)
Specifications
Wingspan: 6m Length: 3.8m Height: 1.4m Weight: Max take-off 222kg; Max mission
payload 50kg Speed: Maximum 210km/h Range: 150km Flight Endurance: 4 - 8 hours Service Ceiling: 5,000 - 6,000m
