China-developed AS700 airship sees multiple technology breakthroughs

China has made multiple technological breakthroughs in the production progress of its first self-developed civil airship, the AS700 "Xiangyun".

Last month, the AS700 "Xiangyun" carried out a successful maiden ferry flight in central China's Hubei Province to verify its flight communication, facility loading and takeoff and landing capabilities.

According to its developer -- the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the single-capsule manned airship has a maximum capacity of carrying 10 passengers, including a pilot.

It can fly at a height of 3,000 meters, with a maximum flight range of 700 km, and a maximum endurance of 10 hours.

With a maximum flight speed of 100 km per hour, the airship will be mainly used in tourism, aerial survey, patrol services and emergency communication. According to Zhang Hua, senior engineer with the Special Vehicle Research Institute of AVIC, the capsule of AS700 is made of home-made non-metallic multilayer composite materials. The configuration design of the capsule ensures that the airship can land on the ground safely even if the capsule is damaged.

"In the past ten years, many capsule materials have been domestically produced. Even if it's broken, the air will slowly leak out, which ensures that the airship can fly back safely," Zhang said.

In order to make the flight more stable in the air, the research team has also solved key technology problems regarding flight control and developed a leading thrust-vector-control technology, making the takeoff and landing of the AS700 smoother and more accurate.

"After the adoption of this technology, we can take off and land in short distances or even vertically, which reduces reliance on traditional takeoff and landing sites. We can use a site to do vertical takeoff and landing as long as the surface is flat and we don't even have to do it at airports," said Zhang.

According to the AVIC, the first commercial AS700 is scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year.

China-developed AS700 airship sees multiple technology breakthroughs

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The number of 5G mobile subscribers in China exceeded one billion at the end of November, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Monday.

In total, there are 1.002 billion 5G mobile subscribers in the country, accounting for 56 percent of the total number of mobile users, who are customers of China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Broadnet. This marks a 9.4 percentage point increase in the share of 5G subscribers compared to the end of last year.

China's total number of mobile subscribers stood at 1.79 billion at the end of November, representing a net increase of 46.82 million from the end of the previous year, according to the MIIT.

As the country has made significant strides in advancing its network infrastructure - deploying 5G stations, gigabit optical networks, and the Internet of Things (IoT) - the number of connected users has grown, and mobile network data traffic has surged.

By the end of November, the total number of 5G base stations across China reached 4.191 million, up by 815,000 compared to the end of the prior year, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the number of internet broadband access ports rose to 1.2 billion, marking a net increase of 63.6 million from the end of the previous year.

Data also indicated steady growth in cumulative revenue from the telecommunications sector. In the first 11 months of the year, the revenue reached 1.59 trillion yuan (about 217.83 billion U.S. dollars), reflecting a 2.6-percent year-on-year increase. When adjusted for last year's prices, the telecom revenue grew by 10 percent.

China's 5G mobile subscribers exceed 1 billion