Words got out on Tuesday that China is ready to mass produce its new drone, the CH-5 and some analyst see this as a doom and punch in the guts for General Atomics MQ-9 and the beginning of the end of its dominance on the international combat drone export market but is this something General Atomics should take serious...?
China publicly unveiled its latest and most capable combat drone last week during the Zhuhai Airshow. According to Chinese officials, the drone which is almost a split image of the US MQ-9 also have almost the same capabilities as the MQ-9 and some even claimed that it has some advantages over the MQ-9.
The CH-5 is the latest unmanned combat vehicle of the rainbow series. The first two series of this drones, the CH-1 and CH-2 were only for reconnaissance and surveillance mission but the CH-3 got combat capabilities and the combat capabilities got improved on on the CH-4.
The latest of this UCAV, the CH-5 is the biggest Chinese UAV. It has a wingspan of 21 metres, and can carry a payload of 1,000kg and a maximum takeoff weight of a little over 3tons. it has a service ceiling of over 9,000metres, and endurance of up to 100 hours, a max speed of over 400km/h and a range of 15,000km.
The CH-5 can fly for 2 days without refueling. It can be operated on the platform on which CH-3 and CH-4 are being controlled and can also share data links with them. The CH-5 is capable of carrying smart bombs, missiles and high-tech radar jammers. It can carry 16 missile at a single time. The CH-5 can also be used for anti-Submarine warfare and ISR (intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance) and touts early warning capabilities.
The US MQ-9 is the only combat drone the US have after the Predator was retired and is arguably the best combat drone in the world. It has been dominating the drone export market but the MQ-9 now has a distant cousin as a competitor.
Looking at the capabilities of this two drones, the General Atomics MQ-9 seems to have an advantage over the CH-5. The take off weight, ceiling, range and payload capabilities of the MQ-9 is almost two time stronger than that of the CH-5 and also has a stronger engine but the CH-5 can perform twice as much as the MQ-9 when it comes to Combat radius, flight hours and cost less than half the price of the MQ-9.
According to the Business daily, the arrival of CH-5 in the international drone market is a "strategic and commercial blow for the US". It is a hard task getting the US to sell weapon especially to states that don't seems to share the same interest and values as them but China is always willing to sell weapons to any state with the cash and this may just be the deciding factor in this situation.
Though the MQ-9 is above the CH-5 when it comes to performance but the price of the CH-5, willingness of the chinese government to negotiate and trade with interested states and little time taking by Chinese officials in reaching and agreement and finalising deals may just give the CH-5 an edge in the market but those who value performance not minding the cost still know what to go for.
A Chief designer on the CH-5 project Shi Wen reported that several Foreign nations (suspected to be Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE) have expressed intentions to purchase the CH-5 and they are in talk with them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment