A private Chinese company is displaying a UAS that it says took photographs of the disputed Senkaku Islands, a claim doubted by outside observers. The Haiyao 1 unmanned surveillance aircraft, produced by an aircraft manufacturer from Jiangsu province, has attracted visitors at the 5th UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) China Conference and Exhibition in Beijing, which started on Sept. 16.
The company says the UAS, measuring 1.9 meters long and 3 meters wide, can fly continuously for up to 12 hours and boasts a reconnaissance capability of 500 kilometers.
The drone’s leaflet shows aerial photos of a lighthouse on one of the Senkaku Islands that it says were taken by the unmanned aircraft.
A company official at the exhibition said the pictures were “taken two years ago by the model that flew from mainland China.”
The islands in the East China Sea are administered by Japan but also claimed by China.
Diplomatic contacts in Beijing cast doubt on the company’s claim, saying a drone from China could not take such clear pictures of the island, given the country’s current technological levels.
“It is a matter of where they obtained the pictures from,” one source said.
Others noted that the pictures show facilities that are no longer on the islands.
Photo: Haiyao 1 at the 5th UAS China Conference and Exhibition in Beijing on Sept. 17 – Nanae Kurashige
Source: Asahi Shinbun