Thursday, June 23, 2016

China Supplying Pakistan New CH-4 UAV?

China: A rising drone weapons dealer to the world
Countries seeking armed drones capable of remotely striking targets on the ground are instead turning to China, whose Caihong family of unmanned aircraft — specifically, the Caihong-3 and Caihong-4, or CH-3 and CH-4 — are turning up in arsenals across the globe.
Along with Iraq, several Middle Eastern states have purchased China's weaponized drone technology. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE have all reportedly imported armed drones from China, as have Nigeria and, some suspect, Somalia (the Somali army admits to having purchased armed drones, though it won't disclose the seller). Iraq and Pakistan have used them in combat, launching strikes at militants within their own borders.

Is Pakistan Secretly Testing a New Chinese Killer Drone? | The Diplomat
Pakistan considered procuring the Wing Loong UAV in the late 2000s; however, the PAF opted for the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) CH-3A instead. Both the Wing Loong and CH-3A are medium altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAVs, capable of firing laser-guided air-to-surface missiles.
According to some media reports, Pakistan is also considering purchasing the CH-4, an upgraded variant of the CH-3A, offering longer endurance and a larger payload. The CH-4 “can carry a payload of up to 350 kilogram including Lan Jian 7 (Blue Arrow 7) laser-guided air-to-surface missiles, TG100 laser/INS/GPS-guided bombs, and the AR-1/HJ-10 anti-tank missile – the Chinese equivalent to the American-made Hellfire missile,” as I explained last year. It closely resembles the U.S.-made General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-9 Reaper drone.
China Unveils Next-Generation Wing Loong II Drone

In terms of size and payload, the Wing Loong UAV is comparable to the smaller General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. However, Chengdu Aircraft Corporation has been working on a larger second-generation Wing Loong II combat UAV, purportedly capable of carrying up to 12 air-to-surface missiles. According to some analysts, the Wing Loong UAV is equipped with a much weaker engine than either the Predator or Reaper and consequently has a more limited range and speed in comparison to U.S. models.



See Pakistan’s New Deadly Drones - India Real Time - WSJ
Pakistan’s indigenously-designed combat drone named Burraq, first inducted in November 2013, very much resembles the CH-3A, although it is unclear in what capacity China has supported Pakistan’s National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) in the development of this new weapons platform. The Burraq UAV was for deployed in combat for the first time during counterinsurgency operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in September 2015.

No comments: