Wing Loong II: Latest Chinese Armed Drone

A new version of Chinese Wing Long high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UCAV has emerged according to IHS Jane's website report.

This iteration of Chinese armed drone is closet to the American RQ-9 Predator drone but still it is far inferior to the latter one.

"While almost identical in size, their performance differs - most likely due to their respective engines. While the MQ-9 has a maximum speed of 482 km/h and can reach a maximum altitude of 50,000 ft (15,240 m), the WingLoong II has a maximum speed of 370 km/h and can reach an altitude of30,000 ft (9,000 m).

They also differ greatly in their external payload. The MQ-9 is credited with an external payload of 1,400 kg while the Wing Loong II can carry 480 kg.", Reported Jane's website report.

ANALYSIS:

Though inferior to its US counterpart, this Chinese drone is yet another indicator that now Chinese are deep in power projection capabilities and arms export competition with Americans and Russians. Already, China has become third largest exporter of arms in international market but unlike the US and Russia, its market share is very low. 5% against 31% of the US and 27% of Russia (according to

"TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS, 2014 " report released by SIPRI. the full report is accessible via following link).http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1503.pdf

Tactical Drones for Pakistan's Special Service Group (SSG)

This still taken from the official ISPR video footage of Pak-China joint exercise in Bahadur Range (Attock) shows COAS Pakistan Army Gen Raheel Sharif holding a UAV which indicates that special forces (SSG) are now adopting the deployment of tactical drones for real-time situational awareness during the ops. This force multiplying technology increases the odds of operational success many times while reducing the risk factor for own troops. This technology would be of great value in high risk operations in buildup areas and dense forest areas like Shweal valley of North Wazirstan Agency in FATA where Pakistan Army has launched the last leg of Operation Zarb e Azb.