Royal Saudi Air Force Chinese-made CASC CH-4 Drone Allegedly Shot Down By Houthi Rebels Over Marib.
A spokesman for the Houthi armed forces in Yemen stated that the organization shot down a Chinese-made Saudi Air Force rainbow at the border of Saudi Arabia -4 drones.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yehia Sarie said in a statement that the drone was in the Madghal district of Malibu province on Monday. The sky was shot down by anti-aircraft missile weapons. He said that this is a Rainbow-4 medium-sized armed drone exported from China.
The Houthi armed forces also released a video of thermal imaging equipment shooting and tracking the drone, but the accuracy could not be confirmed. The video showed that after tracking the drone for a period of time, a missile hit the drone.
According to reports, the Houthi armed forces are equipped with a certain number of vehicle-mounted simple air defense missile systems. This system uses Western commercial thermal imaging equipment for search and tracking. The guidance head can launch after capturing the target. Eventually, the missile tracks hits, and destroys the target by itself. This system has successfully shot down Saudi F-15 and other Rainbow series drones.
This drone is produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which is one of the largest companies in China’s aerospace industry. The drone is exported to Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Rainbow-4 is one of the latest mid-to-high altitude long-endurance UAVs developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is equipped with a rotatable photoelectric equipment turret and can use synthetic aperture radar. The Rainbow-4 UAV usually carries four under-wing pylons and can carry up to 345 kg of payload.
This armed drone made in China can carry more than 300 kilograms of ammunition, including AR-1 laser-guided air-to-surface missile, TG-100 laser inertial guided bomb, FT-9 50 kg GPS global positioning guided bomb, or Ordinary bomb. It is specially designed for carrying out high-altitude reconnaissance and air-to-ground strike missions on land and sea, and the weapon range can reach 5000 meters.
