New 10-billion-yuan project settled in WHDZ

The Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) Administrative Committee on Sept 17 signed an agreement for an intelligent containerized unmanned transport aircraft production base project with the China Special Aircraft Institute, with total investment valued at 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

The institute will carry out research on AI comprehensive transport control technologies and produce intelligent containerized unmanned transport aircraft, which are expected to have their maiden flight within three years.

Liu Ziqing, secretary of the party work committee of WHDZ, and Zhang Mingwen, president of the institute, attended the signing ceremony.

The China Special Aircraft Institute, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, is the nation’s only research institute committed to developing seaplanes, aerostats, and general-purpose aircraft. The institute has won more than 500 national and provincial awards, and plays an important role in Chinese high-tech aviation and basic research.

The project will be located in the General Aviation and Satellite Industrial Park and be divided into three phases. An industrial system that integrates R&D, production, operation, and services for intelligent containerized unmanned transport aircraft will be gradually developed. Meanwhile, enterprises throughout the aircraft industrial chain will also be introduced to the industrial park.