BEIJING – China recently completed a test of a solar-powered drone capableof flying at extremely high altitudes for more than half a day straight.And it can also shoot missiles.
The People’s Liberation Army tested a variant of its CH-4 Rainbow dronefor six days, the People’s Daily reported February 12, conducting live-firetrials in extreme weather conditions. “The capacity and variety of itsordnance indicate the CH-4 can conduct effective air strikes on moretargets, from longer distances with faster reactions, which lays thefoundation for future models and their aligned payloads,” the news outletadds.[image: Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-14 is picturedduring its second test-fire in this undated picture provided by KCNA inPyongyang on July 29, 2017]
The drone flew for 15 hours 20 kilometers above sea level. While itremained quite far from the Karman Line 100 km above Earth, whichrepresents the bridge between the planet’s atmosphere and outer space, theaircraft was well within “near space,” a non-technical term referringto regions roughly between 18 and 100 km above ground.
The plane is designed to reach altitudes of 65 km and fly for weeks on end,Popular Science reported last June.
This was the first time the latest variant of CH-4 has fired weapons,according to Xinhua. Developers at China Aerospace Science and TechnologyCorporation (CASC) involved in the CH-4 project insist the plane has better”basic performance” than the MQ-1 Predator, Xinhua noted.[image: The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s Wing Loong II unmanned combataerial vehicle debuted at the 2015 Beijing Air Show.]
The plane can shoot 50-kilogram cluster bombs and an assortment of guidedmissiles, Asia Times noted. Planes that release weapons at such heights aresusceptible to unexpected weather events interfering with a weapon’s flightpattern and are also vulnerable to enemies who might use electronic jammingmethods to throw off their guided munitions. According to Asia Times,developers believe they will be able to overcome these obstacles.
Beijing has been able to produce drones at a much cheaper cost than the US,which has helped the Chinese drone export market, as has the United States’reputation as stingy about selling weaponized drones.
China’s Wing Loong reconnaissance and strike unmanned planes can beproduced for about $5 million versus the roughly $100 million price tagfor a US-made unmanned aerial system, IHS Markit analyst Ben Mooresrecently told Reuters.