China Begins Hard-Sell Of Its Biggest Ever Military Drone

China’s biggest military drone, the CH-5 was displayed at an unmanned systems industry fair in Shenzhen on Friday.

The CH-5 combat/reconnaissance drone, developed by China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) made its first flight in August.

AAA Designers told Chinese state media that the  CH-5 is made of composite materials and has a wingspan of 20 meters. It can stay in the air for about 40 hours and operate at an altitude of up to 10 km.

It is able to fly with a weight of 3,000 kg and carry 900 kg of equipment and weapons, CAAA engineers were quoted by Chinese state media as saying.  "The larger carrying capacity enables the CH-5 to have more reconnaissance equipment so it can detect any given target within a radius of 80 km," said Lan Wenbo, a chief engineer of CAAA said.

"We have sold the CH-3 to several foreign nations and now we plan to launch the export version of the CH-5 to the international market. It can perform air-to-ground strike, reconnaissance and transport operations,” Shi Wen, chief designer of the CH series at the CAAA was quoted by state media.

The CH-5 can host advanced radar that can penetrate thick walls or cave to find out terrorists hiding there.