CASC Rainbow (Cai Hong, abbreviated as CH) is a series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), also known as the 11th Academy of CASC, or 701st Research Institute. The CH-5 is the latest UCAV of the Rainbow series, with a wingspan of 21 metres, a payload of 1,000 kg, a maximum takeoff weight of over 3 tonnes, a service ceiling of 9 km, an endurance of up to 60 hours and a range of 10,000 km. It conducted its maiden flight in August 2015. The drone can carry 16 missiles at a single time. There were also plans to extend its range up to 20,000 km. Chinese officials claimed the CH-5 Rainbow was similar in performance to the US MQ-9 Reaper and “may come in at less than half the price.” Compared to the Garrett TPE331 turboprop engine mounted on the Reaper, CH-5 is equipped with an unidentified turbo-charged piston engine, with less than half the horsepower. This choice limits the maximum altitude of the CH-5 to 9 km compared to the 12–15 km of the Reaper, but it also extends CH-5’s endurance to 60 hours compared to 14 hours of the Reaper’s. Future blocks of CH-5 will be able to stay in the air for up to 120 hours.
The CH-5 is the latest UCAV of the Rainbow series, with a wingspan of 21 metres, a payload of 1,000 kg, a maximum takeoff weight of over 3 tonnes, a service ceiling of 9 km, an endurance of up to 60 hours[22] and a range of 10,000 km. Thanks to shared data link it can cooperate with CH-3 and CH-4 drones. It conducted its maiden flight in August 2015[23][24] and its first airshow flight (in northern Hebei province) in July 2017.[22] The drone can carry 16 missiles at a single time. There were also plans to extend its range up to 20,000 km.[25] Chinese officials claimed the CH-5 Rainbow was similar in performance to the US MQ-9 Reaper and "may come in at less than half the price." Compared to the Garrett TPE331 turboprop engine mounted on the Reaper, CH-5 is equipped with an unidentified turbo-charged piston engine, with less than half the horsepower. This choice limits the maximum altitude of the CH-5 to 9 km compared to the 12–15 km of the Reaper, but it also extends CH-5's endurance to 60 hours compared to 14 hour of the Reaper's. Future blocks of CH-5 will be able to stay in the air for up to 120 hours
China Plans To Produce 42,000 Drones The Pentagon's annual report on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) revealed China's plan to produce nearly 42,000 land-based and sea-based unmanned weapons and sensor platforms. The report released on Friday added that apart from operating many armed and unarmed China drone aircraft, China is also developing long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence gathering as well as bombing attacks. "The acquisition and development of longer-range UAVs will increase China's ability to conduct long-range reconnaissance and strike operations," the report said. China's ability to use drones is increasing and it "plans to produce upwards of 41,800 land- and sea-based unmanned systems, worth about $10.5 billion, between 2014 and 2023." Four UAVs under development include the Xianglong, Yilong, Sky Saber, and Lijian, with the latter three drones configured to fire precision-strike weapons.
“The United States and China acknowledge that the Chinese tested a hypersonic glide vehicle in 2014,” the report noted. It was the first time the Pentagon confirmed the existence of Wu-14 hypersonic glide vehicle, a strike weapon that travels at the edge of space at nearly 10 times the speed of sound. "The Lijian, which first flew on Nov. 21, 2013, is China's first stealthy flying wing UAV," the report said.
Rick Fisher, a China military affairs analyst was quoted as saying by World Tribune that the report is the Pentagon’s most detailed assessment in recent years. “By far it is the most detailed PLA report in terms of explaining near to medium term threat vectors but does not venture enough into the far term, the later 2020s and beyond,” said Fisher. The report also stressed the threat that Taiwan is facing and concluded that the PL A “is pursuing modernization on a scale unprecedented in its history.”
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