In recent years, in several armed conflicts that have attracted global attention, the frequency of drones has begun to increase. First, the United States used drones to assassinate Iranian military leader Sulaimani at the Baghdad airport in Iraq, and then in 2020, in the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan used drones to strike Armenia's armored forces on multiple occasions, which directly affected the entire war situation. We see more J-20, J-31, so how about China's unmanned attack people?
Since China's research in the field of drones has begun to synchronize with the West, the mainland's drones have in fact been at the forefront of the world. The mainland's military unmanned aerial vehicles are not only technologically advanced, but also absolutely inexpensive compared to the unmanned attack aircraft of European and American countries. In the export market, China's unmanned attack aircraft are also far ahead of similar products.
At present, there are five main unmanned attack aircraft in active service of the Continental Air Force:
Rainbow-4 unmanned fighter
Rainbow-4 unmanned combat aircraft
The Rainbow-4 is a medium-range reconnaissance strike aircraft with an endurance of 40 hours and a maximum range of 3,500 kilometers. There are four weapons mounts that can carry two air-to-ground missiles and two satellite-guided bombs. The control system adopts a high-precision four-in-one photoelectric sensor, synthetic aperture radar, and the positioning system uses China's Beidou satellite positioning system.
Rainbow-4 made its first appearance in the SCO military exercise in 2014, and its appearance has attracted the attention of countries around the world. Saudi Arabia has even invested heavily in the introduction of a full set of technologies and production lines. In the wake of Saudi Arabia's clashes with Yemen's Houthi armed forces, the Rainbow-4 is Saudi Arabia's main weapon. There have been videos of a Rainbow-4 using air-to-ground missiles directly destroying a Russian-made T-72 tank.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq have also introduced Rainbow-4 drones. And in actual combat, they have all gained something.
Rainbow-5 unmanned fighter
Rainbow-5 unmanned combat aircraft
The Rainbow-5 is a medium- and long-range unmanned reconnaissance attack all-in-one aircraft based on the Rainbow-4. The maximum endurance of the Rainbow-5 modified version can reach 120 hours, and the maximum flight distance can exceed 10,000 kilometers. Up to 16 air-to-ground missiles can be mounted. In terms of radar, synthetic aperture phased array ground-to-ground radar is selected. The overall layout is similar to the American "Predator" unmanned attack aircraft, but the overall technology is better than the "Predator", but the price is less than half of the "Predator".
At present, in addition to the Chinese Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force has also introduced this drone.
Pterodactyl-1 drone
The Pterodactyl-1 is a dual-use unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can perform surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures and ground attack tasks, and play a role in stability maintenance, counter-terrorism and border patrol; it can also be applied to disaster monitoring, atmospheric research and meteorological observation, geological exploration and land mapping, environmental protection, pesticide spraying and forest fire prevention, anti-drug smuggling and other civil and scientific research fields. [2] Among the similar UAVs in the world, the Pterodactyl UAV is at the advanced level. Its overall performance and use are similar to the Rainbow-4 unmanned aerial vehicle developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the MQ-1 Predator unmanned attack aircraft developed by General Atomic Technology Corporation of the United States, but the focus is different.
The Pterodactyl-1 has a total flight time of more than 10,000 hours so far, firing thousands of live ammunition.
Up to now, in addition to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the air forces of Egypt, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan have been equipped with Pterodactyl-1 UAVs.
Pterodactyl-2
Pterodactyl-2 drone
The Pterodactyl-2 Hollow Long-Endurance Drone is an enlarged version of the Pterodactyl-1 with a longer fuselage and wider wingspan. The Pterodactyl-2 mid-air long-time UAV has a slender fuselage, with a V-tail and ventral fins. The aircraft features a retractable landing gear that includes two main wheels under the fuselage and a single wheel under the nose. There are three mounting points under each wing that can carry bombs, rockets or air-to-surface missiles. A satellite communications antenna located on the front surface of the top of the fuselage provides long-range data transmission between the drone and the ground station.
Based on the success of the Pterodactyl-1, the Pterodactyl-2 received a large number of overseas orders as early as the design stage. And soon after serving in the military, he became active in armed conflicts around the world. The Turkish unmanned fighter jet, which was a major player in the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, was completely killed by the Pterodactyl-2 on the battlefield in Libya. The Libyan National Army, which received emirati assistance from the Pterodactyl-2 drone, took almost all of Libya. Many of the Turkish drones equipped by their opponents were destroyed by the Pterodactyl-2 drones before they could take off.
At present, in addition to the Chinese people's Liberation Army Air Force, the Ministry of Emergency Management is also equipped with the Pterodactyl-2H emergency relief drone. In 2021, Henan suffered heavy rains and communications were interrupted in some areas, so the Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched the Pterodactyl-2H carrying a communication platform to the airlift communication service over the disaster area in Henan and conducted disaster investigation. Great facilities have been made for disaster relief.
Overseas, saudi arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, libyan national army (purchased by the UNITED Arab Emirates from China) four countries or organizations equipped with pterodactyl-2 drones.
Attack-11 (aka: Sword Drone) unmanned fighter
Attack-11 unmanned fighter
The Strike-11 first flew in November 2013, making China the fourth country after the United States, Great Britain and France to successfully complete a dedicated unmanned fighter.
The Attack-11 is a stealth unmanned fighter that looks similar to the American B-2 stealth strategic bomber. Although it was made public at the 70th anniversary of the National Day military parade in 2019, its specific parameters have not been directly disclosed so far. Only from the end of December 2017, a photo of a commemorative model of the sword launched by avic internal employee welfare club appeared on the Internet, the model has all the appearance details of the real sword, it can be seen that the final version of the tail nozzle has been invisibly processed, showing that the previous real flight photos appeared as a test machine, while there are two bomb bays below, one side is mounted with 4 small satellite guided bombs and the other side is a large satellite guided glide bomb, and there is a jagged stealth treatment at the bullet hatch door and many fuselage seams.
At present, the drone has not been exported.