TSAMTO, August 12. The Iraqi Army Aviation Command has resumed the use of Chinese-made CH-4 reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for their intended purpose.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, the Ministry of Defense of Iraq has published a video in which Defense Minister Juma Inad Saadun is shown a ground control point of a UAV located at the Balad airbase on August 8. The head of the defense department also watched the takeoff of the CH-4, armed with AR-1 laser-guided missiles and FT-9 bombs.
In a video report, D. Saadun said that UAVs played a major role in the course of combat operations against the extremist group "Islamic State", but were put into storage in 2017 due to the expiring service life. According to the minister, in 2021, a contract was signed with the manufacturer to restore the UAV, work under which began about a month ago.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense first presented the CH-4 in October 2015, without disclosing how many UAVs were purchased. In 2019, the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense reported that Iraq has more than 10 CH-4 UAVs, but only one of them is ready for combat use due to maintenance problems. Subsequently, it became known that all UAVs were put into storage due to problems with their maintenance contracts.
D. Saadun also got acquainted with two ScanIgl UAVs supplied by the USA. One of them was an early model, and the second, newer, equipped with an EQ950 turret with a wide-view camera providing situational awareness and an additional sensor with image scaling to identify the target.
According to TSAMTO, according to a report published on May 4, 2021 by the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense (OIG), the Su-25 attack aircraft and Chinese-made CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicles in service with the Iraqi Air Force were not suitable for flights due to a shortage of spare parts and financial resources for their maintenance. The report stated that Iraq initially acquired 20 UAVs, eight of which were lost during operation. As of the time of the report, the CH-4 UAVs last flew in September 2019. Probably, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense still managed to find funds for the maintenance of the CH-4 UAV and return them to operation against the background of the aggravated situation in the country.
The CH-4 class MALE multi-purpose UAV family was developed by the CAAA Academy of Aeronautical Aerodynamics (Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics), part of the CASC Corporation (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) and comes with a wide range of sensors. Two variants of the UAV were adopted by the People's Liberation Army of China: the basic CH-4A, configured primarily to perform reconnaissance missions with a flight duration of 30 hours, and the shock CH-4B, capable of carrying a combat load weighing up to 345 kg, but characterized by a shorter flight duration (14 hours).
