August 25, 2015 at 11:07 am
I figure this little UAV deserves a thread for itself.
Why is this Chinese knock off so important? Because it brings the abilities of the Predator to pretty much any air force, even on a budget.
A good example is Saudi Arabia, a country that has the cash, but had to piggyback on the US Predators when hunting for rebels a few years back.
It seems to be very similar to the MQ-1 Predator UAV, be it with 4 times the range:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAIG_Wing_Loong
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-1_Predator
A strong selling point is that it’s said to cost only $1 million, compared to $5 for an MQ-1 and $12 million for an MQ-9.
Plus the fact that China seems to be a lot more willing to export them, notably to Saudi Arabia and the UAE (which has also ordered the Predator XP), and also the ability to do so on short notice.
And it seems to offer full weapon launch ability: