Use by Iraqi Military May Be a Boon for China-Made Drones
By PATRICK BOEHLER and GERRY DOYLE

HONG KONG — After more than a decade of fighting in Iraq, the names of the American-made drones striking targets there have become familiar: Predator, Reaper, Sentinel.

But this month, a new model entered the fray: the Chinese-made Caihong-4.

According to footage released by the Iraqi armed forces, soldiers used the Chinese drone on Dec. 6 to destroy an ISIS position amid efforts to retake the city of Ramadi. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense confirmed the video was real.

The lethal strike represents a major step forward in China’s drive to become a leading exporter of military equipment, experts say. Iraq is the only known export user of the drone, also known as the CH-4, which closely resembles the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.

Its first use in combat may be a selling point for potential buyers.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of a Chinese drone, such as the CH-4 (which is basically a clone of the Reaper), reporting an actual kill, and I suppose it would be cliché to say that it won’t be the last,” Richard A. Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, wrote in an email on Wednesday.

Mr. Bitzinger estimated that Iraq’s armed forces had to buy six to 12 Chinese drones to conduct operations efficiently.

“When the Iraqi MoD officially unveiled them in October, two ground control stations could be seen,” Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa editor at IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, wrote in an email, referring to the Ministry of Defense. “Given a typical setup of two aircraft per control station, Iraq probably has at least four.”

China also uses the CH-4. Its predecessor, the CH-3, has been sold to both Nigeria and Pakistan, he said.

Last year, China became the world’s third-largest arms exporter, behind the United States and Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank in Sweden. China’s defense companies have been working hard to export higher-end systems — like drones, air defense systems and even stealth fighters — but with few successes so far.

The CH-4, whose name translates as “Rainbow,” is manufactured by the Beijing-based China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, a state-owned enterprise group. The drone “represents China’s research and production of drones march toward the world,” according to a news article from 2014 on the conglomerate’s website.

Calls and a fax sent to C.A.S.C. went unanswered.

The drone was first seen at an airshow in Beijing in 2013, according to China News Service. In March 2015, a state-run news agency said such drones had been handed to the Iraqi Air Force, citing Russian news reports. In October, Iraq’s defense minister inspected a Caihong drone at an air base in the city of Kut, according to a video shared by his ministry.

The CH-4 can strike from an altitude of about 16,000 feet and fly at up to 112 miles per hour, according to an article in China Space News, a publication run by C.A.S.C.

“What is clear is that the price of one Caihong-4 drone is much lower than the price of an advanced battle tank on the international arms market,” said the article, published in March.

The loss of a drone is “affordable even when military budgets are tight or in small countries,” it noted.

Chinese-built drones and aircraft are generally built to compete on price, experts say. Technological limitations mean the finished products do not often perform at the same level as their Western counterparts, but they are cheaper — and have far fewer restrictions on who can buy them.

“China is known to have difficulties in developing aero engine technology, and this is also true for UAV engines. As a result, Chinese UAVs are generally less capable in terms of performance,” Kelvin Wong, an Asia Pacific defense technology reporter with IHS, wrote in an email, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

As resources are scarce for Iraq’s armed forces, Chinese drones offer a fast alternative to allied air strikes, according to Jeffrey Lin and Peter W. Singer, who have traced reports of Chinese drone deployments in Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

“The long loiter time and precision weaponry of armed drones give small Iraqi units flexible and rapid response fire support to exploit sudden battlefield conditions,” they wrote in a blog post on  Tuesday.

Apart from the lower price of Chinese drones, restrictions imposed by the United States on the export of armed unmanned systems open a potentially lucrative market for Chinese manufacturers, Timothy R. Heath, a senior international defense research analyst with the RAND Corporation, wrote in an email.

“Considering the number of countries that have acquired or expressed interest in Chinese drones, the recent incident in Iraq in which a government uses Chinese armed drones to strike domestic insurgents may become more commonplace around the world,” he wrote.

Indeed, dozens of countries now manufacture reconnaissance drones, Mr. Bitzinger noted. And their use is all but expected on the modern battlefield.

“Now it appears that armed drones (Chinese, European, Iranian, Russian) are the next phase in this proliferation,” he wrote.

陸製無人機首戰告捷 炸毀IS據點

根據伊拉克武裝部隊發布的影片顯示，在本月6日嘗試奪回伊拉克拉馬迪市的過程中，伊軍士兵利用大陸製造的無人機「彩虹4」，成功摧毀一處伊斯蘭國（IS）據點。這是彩虹4在伊拉克首次參與實戰，也代表大陸朝軍事設備主要出口國的地位，邁進一大步。

紐約時報報導，伊拉克國防部發言人已證實該影片的內容屬實。而伊拉克方面在該次行動中，總共出動2架「彩虹4」無人機，一架用來攻擊，另外一架則負責監控。這也是該款無人機首次參與作戰，對潛在買家而言可能是個賣點。

「彩虹4」由中國航天科技集團生產，2013年在北京國際航空展亮相，巡航高度為5,000至7,000公尺，巡航時速150至180公里。今年3月，俄羅斯媒體報導指出，大陸已向伊拉克交付「彩虹4」。

據伊拉克軍方公布的影片，伊拉克國防部長10月曾在一處空軍基地查看一架「彩虹4」無人機。

新加坡南洋理工大學拉惹勒南國際關係學院高級研究員畢辛格（Richard A. Bitzinger）表示，這是他首次聽說有中國製無人機擊斃敵人，而「這不會是最後一次」。他也估計，伊拉克武裝部隊要買入6至12架中國製無人機，才能展開有效行動。

專家表示，大陸製造的無人機和飛機，通常以價格在國際採購市場中取勝。雖然因其發動機等技術不足，經常造成性能不如西方同類機型，但價格卻比較低，而且對購買者定出的限制也少很多。

根據瑞典智庫斯德哥爾摩國際和平研究所（SIPRI），大陸2014年已成全球第3大軍火出口國，僅次於美國和俄羅斯。目前，大陸一直試圖努力外銷國產的無人機、防空系統，甚至隱形戰機等高階武器，但成功外銷的案例並不多。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/business/international/china-drone-export-iraq.html

2015-12-21．經濟日報．A10．兩岸．記者杜宗熹