Wing Loong-2H

2025: Use of UAVs for snow removal begins

At the end of April 2025, it became known that China began to use heavy military unmanned aerial vehicles to cause precipitation - snow and rain. This can, for example, save crops from drought or help extinguish large forest fires.

For artificial summoning of precipitation, special silver iodide cartridges can be used. If the smallest particles of this substance are sprayed in the cloud, snowflakes begin to quickly form on them. A few grams of silver iodide is enough for 10 thousand tons of water to spill out of a medium-sized cloud. Thus, it is possible to create artificial precipitation in the desired area, pursuing certain goals.

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Фото: Bespilot Telegram channel

In China, the Wing Loong reconnaissance and strike drone began to be equipped with special cartridges to cause snow and rain. This device is made according to the middle plane scheme with elongated wings, which contribute to an increase in flight duration. The tail is one V-shaped stabilizer directed upwards from the fuselage. The engine is in the rear: it drives the pushing propeller.

Network sources report that during the mission to artificially form precipitation, the drone was in the air for five and a half hours. The operation was carried out in the Sanjiangyuan region in Qinghai province in the west central part of the PRC. The rainfall in this province is 300-500 mm per year, therefore, steppes and semi-deserts in depressions and steppes in the mountains are common from natural zones. A rainfall-calling drone was deployed to replenish local water resources. The route of the drone during the operation was corrected in real time based on data from the Fengyun satellite and meteorological radar.^[1]

2022: Start of artificial amplification of precipitation using drones

On October 3, 2022, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced that Wing Loong-2H, a large civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), successfully conducted a cloud seeding operation in the Qinghai-Tibet Highlands.

Wing Loong - 2H detected cloud accumulation over Amni Machen Ridge in Sanjiangyuan District and successfully carried out artificial intensification of rainfall in the form of rain and snow, AVIC, the country's leading aircraft manufacturer, said in a statement.

In China, began to artificially increase precipitation using drones

The purpose of the operation is to improve cloud seeding capacity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is of great importance for ensuring stable life and agricultural livestock production, as well as for exploring ways to combat climate change.

This operation is carried out jointly by the Weather Modification Center under the Meteorological Administration of China (CMA), the Meteorological Observation Center under the CMA, the AVIC unit (Chengdu City) to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle system and many other units.

According to AVIC, the drone was equipped with special equipment to detect cloud clusters, study their characteristics and structure, as well as equipment to increase precipitation.

It is estimated that during the operation of the system, which lasted about five hours, the operation to increase the amount of precipitation affected the area of ​ ​ up to 15 thousand square meters. km, AVIC reported.

Wing Loong-2H 's work is part of the UAV testing of the Plateau Rainfall Increase System. Its goal is to increase snowfall and ice cover in glacier areas on the plateau.

In 2018 China , he tested the weather modification system, which made it possible to increase the amount of precipitation in the Tibetan Highlands to 10 billion cubic meters using a network of combustion chambers. m per year.^[2][3]

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