ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has received five Cai Hong 4 (Rainbow 4, or CH-4)multirole medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) from all-weather friend China, shows export-import (EXIM) dataavailable on the Pakistan Exim Trade Info websitelink.

Chinese defence contractor Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co Ltd(ALIT) delivered the UAVs, which arrived in Punjab’s Khanewal city onJanuary 15.

It is unclear, however, which variant of the CH-4 was received by Pakistan,and whether this consignment is part of a larger UAV order or just alimited acquisition of this UAV type, possibly for testing.

The CH-4 family of multirole MALE UAVs was developed by ALIT and ChinaAerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and comes with amultitude of sensor options.

Two variants are known to be in service with China’s People’s LiberationArmy: the baseline CH-4A, which is configured primarily for reconnaissancemissions with a flight endurance of 30 hours, and the strike-capable CH-4B,which is capable of carrying a 345 kg weapon payload, but has a shorterflight endurance of 14 hours, according to IHS Jane’s, the world’s leadingdefence magazine.

There is also third variant called the CH-4C, which is still believed to bein the testing phase. This latest variant is reported to offer severalimprovements over the CH-4B, including a greater payload, increasedelectrical power generation, as well as updated data processing andelectronic architecture, enabling a wider range of payloads to be carried,it added.