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27 JANUARY 2020 2020年1月27日 
China’s Sichuan Tengden Technology Company (Tengden) has completed initial testing of a three-engined variant of its medium altitude long endurance (MALE)-class TW328/TB001 ‘Twin-tailed Scorpion’ unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), culminating in what the company claims to be a successful maiden flight on 16 January. 中国四川腾登科技公司（Tengden）已完成其三发动机改体中高空长航时（MALE）级TW328 / TB001“双尾蝎”无人机（UAV）的初步测试，最终该公司宣称于1月16日成功进行了首飞。 According to an industry source, the prototype air vehicle performed an automatic take-off from a civilian airport in southwestern China – understood to be Zigong Fengming General Airport in Sichuan province – at 11 am local time, flying a pre-programmed route that lasted 25 minutes before landing and taxiing autonomously to the airport apron for inspection. 据一位业内人士透露，这架原型机于当地时间上午11点从中国西南部的一个民用机场（据了解是四川自贡凤鸣通用机场）执行了自动起飞，沿一条预编程的航线飞行，该航线续飞了25分钟后降落，并自动滑行至机场停机坪供检查。 Local media reported that the updated TB001 features an increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 3,200 kg and service ceiling of 31,167 ft (9,500 m), an uptick of 14.3% and 18.75% respectively over the baseline production model. Development of the prototype is understood to have taken Tengden engineers less than six months. 当地媒体报道，更新后的TB001的最大起飞重量（MTOW）增加了3,200公斤，升限增加了31,167英尺（9,500米），分别比基准生产原型增加了14.3％和18.75％。 据了解，腾登公司的工程师用了不到6个月的时间研制出了这一原型。 
Company specifications indicate that the three-engined prototype is derived from the same 10 m long and 3.3 m tall twin-boom airframe used for the production-ready TB001 UAV – which has a MTOW of 2,800 kg – with an overall wingspan of 20 m. 公司的规格表明，这架三发动机原型机是从相同的10米长，3.3米高的双尾撑机身衍生而来的，该机身已用于量产的TB001无人机-MTOW为2800千克-总翼展为20米。 Each boom incorporates forward-mounted turbocharged piston engines – reportedly Rotax 914s equipped with three-bladed propellers in a tractor configuration – in each boom, terminating in vertical tails joined by a high-mounted tailplane. The retractable main landing gear is located immediately aft of the engines. 在每个发动机舱中均装有前装式涡轮增压活塞发动机-据报道，Rotax 914型配备牵引配置的三叶螺旋桨）-每侧发动机舱，向后延至垂直尾翼，并由高架尾翼连接。可伸缩的主起落架位于发动机正后方。 The fuselage houses the retractable nose gear, datalink, flight control systems, and mission equipment, with ventral provisions for a stabilised electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret and a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) module, as well as other customer-specified payloads. 机身装有可伸缩的前起落架、数据链、飞行控制系统和任务设备，腹部配备有稳定的光电/红外（EO/IR）转塔和合成孔径雷达（SAR）模块，以及其他客户指定的有效载荷。 (Responsible editor：鼎盛军事论坛) |
