China’s New “Super Great White Shark” Helicopter Looks Like A Giant Vacuum Robot

The vacuum robot lookalike “Super Great White Shark” was unveiled at the fifth Tianjin Helicopter Exposition on October 9.

According to information from the manufacturer, Tianjin Helicopter Co., Ltd., China Aviation Industry Group, this unique flying vehicle is in the first phase of design.

This armed helicopter is built to collect information from the battlefields in the future. The vehicle’s design uses references from other modern helicopter designs of many countries like Apache AH-64, CH-5 of the U.S, Mil Mi-26 of Russia.

The helicopter has a BWB-Blended-Wing Body design and has been praised by the international experts as its design is unconventional. It is called the “Chinese UFO.”

The manufacturer states that a new propeller blades' conceptual design has been successfully put to use in helicopter design.

The vehicles’ cutaway schematic shows two pilots seating in the cockpit which is placed in the middle of the vehicle. The video and images from the show the vehicles’ prototype sitting idly rather than flying. If the design goes through, this vehicle will help China solve the challenge of building a functioning rotorcraft, something that the Western investors have struggled with since the Second World War.

Before that, a similar experiment was developed from Avro Canada in 1958 like a secret weapon for the Cold War. However, this project was canceled in 1961 since the stability and thrust problems couldn’t be fixed.