China is working on its own copy of the Shahe-136, only with a jet engine
Even if this development is only at the conceptual level, it is worth paying attention to
Chinese UAV developer Aerospace CH UAV Co Ltd has announced that it is working on a family of barrage munitions based on the AR family of air-to-surface missiles.
It is alleged that such kamikaze drones will be developed for “ultra-long range” and will have “a number of new features”, and that there may be four versions of such UAVs, differing primarily in weight – 20 kg, 45 kg, 80 kg and 100 kg. This is stated in the publication of the portal Janes.
At the same time, the authors of Janes accompanied the publication with an illustrative rendering showing two possible variants of future Chinese kamikaze drones. One of these variants can be evaluated as its own copy of the Shahed-136 kamikaze drone, only with a jet engine.
This actually looks quite symptomatic given the reports in some Western media in early 2023 that China might supply Russia with its own copy of the Shaheds, even if these reports were later not confirmed.
Moreover, China is purposefully working on its own kamikaze drones with a jet engine. For example, in October 2022, it became known that the Chinese are working on a “target drone” of the LJ-1 type, which can carry a 40 kg warhead and be launched from a heavy bomber of the H-6 type (a copy of the Soviet Tu-16).
