China to supply 4 Attack Drones to Pakistan – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

To Protect the CPEC and Gwadar Port

• China is in the process of supplying four armed drones to Pakistan, ostensibly to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the PLA Navy’s new base at Gwadar port.
• Originally valued at $46 billion, the value of CPEC projects is worth $62 billion as of 2017.

Gwadar is the Crown Jewel

• Gwadar, in the highly restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, is described as the crown jewel of China’s multi billion investment in Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.
• Why?
• Because Gwadar opens directly to the Indian Ocean Region and gives China strategic access.

Pak and China will jointly make 48 {GJ-2}

• 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.
• The Chengdu Pterodactyl I, also known as Wing Loong, is a MediumAltitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People’s Republic of China.

India has gone to the US

• 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.

It can perform Dual Functions…

• It not only collects intelligence through surveillance and reconnaissance but also locates and destroys the target with missiles or laser-guided bombs.

Also Called MQ-9

• The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF).
• 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.

Interesting to Note…

• 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.

China delivers weapons without regulation

• 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.

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