Beijing advances demonstration zone for UAVs near Great Wall

Two new high-performance small UAVs have been introduced at the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Spot, hovering between the south and north towers, providing real-time services for cultural relic protection, security inspection and scenic spot management.

The UAVs reflect Beijing's efforts to accelerate the development of a demonstration zone for unmanned aerial vehicles in Yanqing District, with the recent release of two related policy documents.

In October 2020, the Civil Aviation Administration of China included Yanqing into the first batch of "civil unmanned aviation test zones" in the country. The airspace has a true height of 1,098 meters and covers 374 square kilometers, with Badaling Airport as the center, and is open to enterprises free of charge.

After more than three years of development, it has gathered more than 90 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain, which has significantly enhanced the innovation capability of drones, and accelerated the opening of low-altitude application scenarios.

Soon, visitors atop the Badaling Great Wall will have cups of coffee delivered by drone, said Chen Xin, deputy director of Yanqing's scientific and technological commission.