Iraqi Army Uses Chinese CH-4 Drone against Daash

11 FEB 2016 -- The Iraqi army uses a Chinese CH-4 drone to destroy a couple of Daash vehicles. The CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicle was developed by China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamic. The CH-4, with takeoff weight of 1,330 kilograms and payload of 350 kilograms, is a multirole platform capable of carrying two bombs and two laser-guided bombs. It has a 40-hour endurance time. The weapons discernible on display were the AR-1 short-range, laser-guided air-to-ground bomb, and the FT-5 precision-guided "small diameter bomb" outfitted with a semi-active laser seeker for terminal guidance. Iraq has confirmed that the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) CH-4 armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system is in service with the aviation branch of its army. The Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 10 October that a UAV had carried out its first attack on a target in Al-Anbar province. It also released a video showing Defence Minister Khalid al-Obaidi inspecting one of the new UAVs at Kut Air Base, 150 km southwest of Baghdad. Although not identified by the MoD, the UAV was clearly a CASC CH-4: a type often described as the Chinese equivalent of the MQ-1 Predator medium-altitude, long-endurance platform. It has been in service with the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) since at least August 2014, when it was seen firing air-to-surface missiles in Chinese media coverage of a military exercise. The presence of CH-4s in Iraq had been known since March, when an Iraqi blog released images of the aircraft that emerged on social media. One showed three CH-4s under camouflage covers in front of a hangar with what appeared to be a faded Iraqi flag on its door. Read more at http://bit.ly/1ZDlHVj