LIMA 2025: Chinese AR-36 vertical take-off UAV enters production

AVIC's AR-36 VTOL UAV is designed for shipborne launch and is capable of conducting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and communications relay operations. A 1:1 scale model of the UAV was displayed at LIMA 2025, Langkawi, Malaysia. (Janes/Akhil Kadidal)

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is producing a new vertical take-off landing (VTOL) surveillance and communications unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which has military and civilian applications, a project official said.

Designated as the AR-36, the UAV is designed for roles such as “shipborne escort, reconnaissance patrol, relay communications, urban anti-terrorism, and fixed-point surveillance”, according to an AVIC published brochure on the UAV.

Speaking to Janes at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition 2025 in Malaysia, an official from AVIC's Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute (FACRI), which co-presented the aircraft at the exhibition, said the “UAV was under development for eight years”.

“The UAV has now entered production, with 100 units capable of being produced annually,” the official added.

According to published data by AVIC, the AR-36 is powered by a “petrol-electric hybrid power system” and has a fully autonomous flight system. The UAV appears to have a single petrol powerplant in the rear part of the main fuselage (in pusher configuration), with four electric engines in tractor configuration, Janes assesses.

The UAV has a “modular payload design”, which can be used to support the installation of multiple types of systems, according to the AVIC brochure.

FACRI and China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) displayed a 1:1 scale model of the UAV at LIMA 2025, which is being held from 19 to 24 May in Malaysia's Kedah province.