Chinese drones keep their positions in the middle East. As writes the famous British military analysis centre Jane’s Information Group, the Chinese drones in recent years has managed to achieve considerable successes in the region, as evidenced by the adoption by some countries for the armed scout and reconnaissance vehicles CH-4, developed by the Chinese Academy of aerospace aerodynamics CAAA (China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics) and producing aerospace scientific and technical Corporation CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation).
So, CH-4 are in service with the Iraqi air. So, in October 2015, the Iraqi defense Ministry released a video, which depicted the start-up of CH-4 from the air base In al-Kut, located Southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The video was included the interview with the Minister of Iraqi defense Khaled al-Obeidi, who reported that CH-4B “rainbow” went on to implement its first combat mission against the “Islamic state” in Anbar province.
It is also known that such devices are exported in two middle Eastern countries — Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which purchased them to meet urgent needs in the framework of the military operation in Yemen, because there were delays with the purchase comparable systems from the United States.
BLAH series CH-4 (Cai Hong 4 — “rainbow-4”) are considered to be a kind of analogues of American UAV MQ-1 Predator. According to the newspaper South China Morning Post, the wingspan of the UAV CH-4A is 18 meters, weight — 1260 kilograms, the flight duration is about 30 hours, range — 3,500 km. Version CH-4B can stay in the air for 14 hours, taking into account rocket and bomb load up to 345 pounds. On this modification can be installed guided missiles “air-surface” AR-1 laser-guided small-caliber and high-precision bombs FT-5.
Whether Chinese BLAH if not to compete with the American drones, to undermine their credibility in the market as the only system of “battle-tested”?
On the main types of UAVS that are armed China and he exports, says an expert in the field of unmanned systems Denis Fedutinov.
— In China at present, designed and developed at least 20 models of UAV aircraft and helicopter types. This includes percussion equipment. Among heavy enough blah BLAH, it is worth noting system CH-3, CH-4, CH-5. The latest model last year made its first flight. Therefore, its export is too early to speak. Model CH-3 and CH-4 (option A in the intelligence and reconnaissance-strike variant B) was used not only by the national armed forces, but also were exported. Among the Chinese customers of UAV systems such States as Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, as well as a number of countries, formerly republics of the former USSR.
According to available public data, BLA CH-B Rainbow in Iraq were used in operations against ISIS, Saudi Arabia has used them in actions against the Houthis in Yemen, and Egypt within the framework of anti-terrorist operations in the Sinai Peninsula.
“SP”: — there Were reports that in Iraq the first time control function CH-4B was performed by the Chinese themselves…
— Such an approach is possible and sometimes used in the world. Experts of the developer or members of the armed forces of any country, with experience in the use of certain UAV systems, sometimes are involved in training local staff. For example, in the same way organized the process of operation of the ScanEagle UAV, supplied by the American side in Afghanistan.
“SP”: — What place in the market in this segment is Beijing? Can China continue to push US in the market, including the Middle East?
— Believe in the export of unmanned aircraft systems China currently ranks third after USA and Israel. Unmanned systems of the U.S. and Israel currently possess significant technical advantages over the Chinese, the technology of small-scale mining operations. However, not every state has the desire to equip its armed forces with drones, has the ability to do it at the expense of the solutions offered by the US and Israel. Often it is not possible either for political or financial reasons. Chinese development is a possible and affordable option for those potential buyers.
“SP”: — CH-4A looks similar to the UAV Predator is a coincidence that a similarity?
— CH-4A really looks like a UAV Predator family. More Precisely, Predator B Reaper. On the one hand, it is known that China experts often borrowed well-known technical solutions. On the other hand, in the world there are several systems of class MALE (medium-altitude UAVs long duration flight), which use fundamentally the same way as the American Predator unit B. In particular, it is an Israeli UAV Hermes 900, Anka Turkish UAV, Chinese UAV CH-4, CH-5. In the case of each of the unmanned vehicles, it is impossible to talk about direct copying, since beyond a certain superficial resemblance, there are also clear structural differences. Returning to CH-4, I guess you can say that Chinese developers, has taken the position not to reinvent the wheel from scratch, and applied the studied technical solutions.
