Chinese Unmanned Combat Drone to Be Exported

China has granted an export license for the CH-5 unmanned reconnaissance/combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), which is believed to be one of the most powerful UCAVs in the world.

According to sources, several foreign nations have expressed intentions to purchase the CH-5.

Compared with the General Atomics MQ-9 REAPER, a hunter-killer drone often deemed by Western analysts as the best of its kind, the CH-5, according to news sources, can perform whatever operations the MQ-9 REAPER can, and is even better than the US vehicle when it comes to flight duration and operational efficiency…This is of course to be proven.

According to news sources at the Zhuhai Air Show, the CH-5 is capable of making a joint strike together with its predecessors, the CH-3 and CH-4, because they can share the same data link and control system.

The CH-5 made its first flight in August last year, becoming the mightiest military drone in China in terms of operational endurance and payload capacity.

The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, part of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, is China’s largest military drone exporter by number of products sold overseas. Its CH-series drones have been sold to military users in more than 10 countries, sources say.