China to supply 4 attack drones to Pak, prompts India to revive Predator-B plan

WolfPack86

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China is in the process of supplying four armed drones to Pakistan, ostensibly to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s new base at Gwadar port, according to people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

Gwadar, in the highly restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, is described as the crown jewel of China’s $60 billion investment in Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.

The supply of two systems (each has two drones and a ground station) comes ahead of Beijing’s plan to jointly produce 48 GJ-2 drones, the military version of Wing Loong II, designed in China for use by Pakistan’s air force.

China has already been selling the reconnaissance and strike drone Wing Loong II to several countries in Asia and West Asia and emerged as the largest exporter of armed drones. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) arms transfer database, China had delivered 163 UAVs to a dozen-odd countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates from 2008 to 2018.


Unlike the US that follows an elaborate process to determine and regulate the end-use of its high-end weapons, China has no such qualms.

China’s attack drone, said to be armed with 12 air-to-surface missiles, are currently being used by UAE-backed forces in Libya against the Turkish-backed government in Tripoli with limited success. Four of them were shot down in the last two months in Libya, according to data compiled by non profit Drone Wars UK.

China’s aggressive postures in Ladakh where the two armies are engaged in a standoff that has lasted two months and its supply to Pakistan has prompted India to conveyed to the US its renewed interest in the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) armed Predator-B drone, which not only collects intelligence through surveillance and reconnaissance but also locates and destroys the target with missiles or laser-guided bombs.


The Indian Navy has been in negotiations with the US for its unarmed naval variant, but national security planners feel that due to the prohibitive cost of the UAV, it would be better to have an all-in-one drone rather than separate ones for surveillance and targeting. Also called the MQ-9 Reaper, the armed remotely piloted aircraft is battle-proven in the Iraq, Afghanistan and Syrian theatres with the capability of carrying four Hell-Fire missiles and two 500 pounds of laser-guided bombs.

For the future, Indian private sector companies on the outskirts of New Delhi are in the process of developing medium-altitude long-endurance drones for India. But the capacity to acquire armed drones within the country is some distance away. The Defence Research and Development Organisation also has plans to produce the Rustom drone prototype by the end of this year.
 

IndianHawk

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Some excerpts

The Iraqi air force is down to just one operational CH-4 out of a fleet of around 10, according to an August 2019 report from the U.S. inspector-general.

in Iraq and Syria, told the inspector-general that maintenance problems have grounded most of the Iraqi CH-4s.

The Jordanian air force in June 2019 put up for sale its own six CH-4s.
It’s unclear why Amman is trying to get rid of its CH-4s just three years after acquiring them. But it’s possible the divestment is related to Jordan’s ongoing efforts to source Predator-style drones from the United States.
 

Super lca

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China is in the process of supplying four armed drones to Pakistan, ostensibly to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s new base at Gwadar port, according to people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

Gwadar, in the highly restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, is described as the crown jewel of China’s $60 billion investment in Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.

The supply of two systems (each has two drones and a ground station) comes ahead of Beijing’s plan to jointly produce 48 GJ-2 drones, the military version of Wing Loong II, designed in China for use by Pakistan’s air force.

China has already been selling the reconnaissance and strike drone Wing Loong II to several countries in Asia and West Asia and emerged as the largest exporter of armed drones. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) arms transfer database, China had delivered 163 UAVs to a dozen-odd countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates from 2008 to 2018.


Unlike the US that follows an elaborate process to determine and regulate the end-use of its high-end weapons, China has no such qualms.

China’s attack drone, said to be armed with 12 air-to-surface missiles, are currently being used by UAE-backed forces in Libya against the Turkish-backed government in Tripoli with limited success. Four of them were shot down in the last two months in Libya, according to data compiled by non profit Drone Wars UK.

China’s aggressive postures in Ladakh where the two armies are engaged in a standoff that has lasted two months and its supply to Pakistan has prompted India to conveyed to the US its renewed interest in the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) armed Predator-B drone, which not only collects intelligence through surveillance and reconnaissance but also locates and destroys the target with missiles or laser-guided bombs.


The Indian Navy has been in negotiations with the US for its unarmed naval variant, but national security planners feel that due to the prohibitive cost of the UAV, it would be better to have an all-in-one drone rather than separate ones for surveillance and targeting. Also called the MQ-9 Reaper, the armed remotely piloted aircraft is battle-proven in the Iraq, Afghanistan and Syrian theatres with the capability of carrying four Hell-Fire missiles and two 500 pounds of laser-guided bombs.

For the future, Indian private sector companies on the outskirts of New Delhi are in the process of developing medium-altitude long-endurance drones for India. But the capacity to acquire armed drones within the country is some distance away. The Defence Research and Development Organisation also has plans to produce the Rustom drone prototype by the end of this year.
Lol don't worry these drone literally have no successful battle record till date.All these drones are good only to get shot
 

Waanar

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Some excerpts

The Iraqi air force is down to just one operational CH-4 out of a fleet of around 10, according to an August 2019 report from the U.S. inspector-general.

in Iraq and Syria, told the inspector-general that maintenance problems have grounded most of the Iraqi CH-4s.

The Jordanian air force in June 2019 put up for sale its own six CH-4s.
It’s unclear why Amman is trying to get rid of its CH-4s just three years after acquiring them. But it’s possible the divestment is related to Jordan’s ongoing efforts to source Predator-style drones from the United States.
We should buy one if possible just to study it. :p
 

Rajaraja Chola

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Stupid article. How is an armed drone counter to another armed one. They are used to take out specific targets with less warning.
India can buy or make armed Drones in her own speed. The money earmarked for Predator should be funneled into Ghatak and Rustom programmes. Imagine 3B for Ghatak will do us sea of good. But we will be splurging 5,B for an foreign product.
 

Flying Dagger

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Stupid article. How is an armed drone counter to another armed one. They are used to take out specific targets with less warning.
India can buy or make armed Drones in her own speed. The money earmarked for Predator should be funneled into Ghatak and Rustom programmes. Imagine 3B for Ghatak will do us sea of good. But we will be splurging 5,B for an foreign product.
Actually we should have gone for Reaper in the beginning itself. There was lot we could have learn from.

Remember at the end of day it's mechanical and our hand on such will definitely help. Reaper is pretty advanced compare to what is on offer in market. By controlling it's sale USA keeps it price high too.

On the other hand accident of Rustom prototype was a setback. An armed drone is definitely an expensive and long road but it is utterly distasteful that we don't even have unarmed Drones and import them.
 

Rajaraja Chola

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Actually we should have gone for Reaper in the beginning itself. There was lot we could have learn from.

Remember at the end of day it's mechanical and our hand on such will definitely help. Reaper is pretty advanced compare to what is on offer in market. By controlling it's sale USA keeps it price high too.

On the other hand accident of Rustom prototype was a setback. An armed drone is definitely an expensive and long road but it is utterly distasteful that we don't even have unarmed Drones and import them.
The problem is not the price. But the step motherly treatment given to Homegrown projects and the time for placing foreign orders.
If I am right, we are looking at American drones atleast since 2011. And if we are doing to spend 5B to buy some 12 drones, we could use that fund on Ghatak. Our designers could probably build an world.class drone in 3,B in few years. But what we have Kanjoos giving money in 100s of crores every year for 10 year and then complain why project is not successful. But transfer 15% of any deal almost immediately. 750m would have gone out if we have signed US deal.

Just last year we sanctioned 1000+ crore for Ghatak engine. God knows that money for how many years. 5.4B for S400. If we had invested that money we could have done something with that. Infact our ABM programme is done, but is waiting financial sanction for implementation for last 3 years. I bet the total program cost was less than 2000 crores.
 

Flying Dagger

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We should buy one if possible just to study it. :p
Its a Wannabee Reaper after Chinese get to study the fallen ones and data theft. Over half a dozen have fallen this year within couple of month in Libya.

But China is definitely going many times better than us in this dept.
Another thing Drones must come cheap since the whole idea behind them is to save human life and keep the cost down as compared to the modern fighter jet while doing the job with same or better efficiency.

Reaper is going to cost us a bomb in billions of dollar.

I once read about the project where Tejas can be remotely operated with Israeli helping us with it. I don't know if it is still just Paper Tiger project or something real will happen anytime soon.
 

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