AVIC’s Wing Loong II drone.
Photographer: Mikhail Voskresenskiy / AP Images
Photographer: Mikhail Voskresenskiy / AP Images
A dozen years after its fight with the Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram, Nigeria receives some new weapons: a pair of Wing Loong II drones from China. The deal is one of the growing state-owned sales Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), which has exported several aircraft. The UAE has used AVIC drones in the Libyan civil war, Egypt has attacked rebels in Sinai and Saudi-led troops have deployed them in Yemen. The company’s drones are “now being tested in battle,” says Heather Penney, a fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, a think tank in Arlington, Va. “They have been able to feed the lessons learned in their manufacture.”
Nigeria achieves AVIC’s second-generation Wing Loongs – the name means “pterodactyl” – which can fly up to 230 mph and reach 30,000 feet, with a payload of a dozen missiles. Since 2015, when AVIC introduced the new model, there have been 50 for export and an unknown number for China’s People’s Liberation Army. And he’s working on even more advanced aircraft, such as a stealth fighter with a flying wing design similar to the American B-2 bomber. The drone program, combined with deliveries of fighter jets, trainers, carriers and assault helicopters, has propelled AVIC to the top ranks of the global arms trade. In 2019 it sold military equipment valued at $ 22.5 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), and placed it sixth in the world, behind five U.S. companies.
AVIC’s drones have two major outlets: they are cheaper than comparable aircraft from US or Israeli producers – the other primary manufacturers – and China doesn’t care much about how they are used, says Ulrike Franke, a member of European Policy Foreign Affairs Council. “China is willing to export armed drones to almost everyone,” he says. AVIC did not respond to requests for comment.
Combat drones delivered
By Chinese and American suppliers, 2010-2020
Excludes orders that have not yet been delivered.
Over the past decade, China has delivered 220 drones to 16 countries, according to Sipri. This prompted other nations to increase their capabilities in this field, says Michael Horowitz, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. Japan, South Korea and Belarus are developing drone technology. Turkey supplied drones that helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenia in last year’s Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russia in January agreed to send drones to Myanmar and is working on long-range models. Serbia and Pakistan say they intend to use China’s purchases to plant their own programs. “Armed proliferation of drones is inevitable because of Chinese exports,” Horowitz says.
The Chinese government rejects the accusation that it fuels an arms race, saying it only seeks to improve the defensive capabilities of its customers. And unlike the United States, it refrains from intervening in its internal affairs, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a February press conference. “We are prudent and responsible in arms exports,” he said. “This is totally different from what the United States is doing.”
The push for Chinese drones poses a challenge for President Biden, who is trying to go beyond the Trump administration’s foreign policy. Last fall, Trump considered AVIC and its subsidiaries part of the Chinese military, restricting its access to U.S. technology. But last summer he reinterpreted the Missile Technology Control Regime – a 1987 agreement signed by more than 30 countries that had long kept a cap on U.S. drone exports. allow the sale of many such aircraft.
Despite criticism from Democrats, Trump agreed to sell 18 General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones to the UAE. In November, the administration approved a $ 600 million deal to provide Taiwan with four reapers; and the following month, the Trump State Department informed Congress of a contract to sell four reapers in Morocco following the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel. Although Biden has said he is reviewing the sale in the UAE, all three deals are on track to be finalized.
Visitors see Wing Loong unmanned aerial vehicles at an AVIC assembly plant in Chengdu, China’s Sichuan Province, in 2018.
Photographer: Imaginechina / AP Images
AVIC is the center of a broader push by China to develop its aerospace industry, both civilian and military. China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. has sold fighter drones to Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Serbia, the first time a European country has deployed Chinese drones. China North Industries Group Corp. in November he completed the development of his Golden Eagle helicopter drones, which the Communist Party controlled Global Times The newspaper said they were “designed to meet the demands of the arms trade.” Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, 12% owned by AVIC, is developing an aircraft to compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. And AVIC has joint ventures with about ten multinationals in China-centered civilian enterprises, such as aircraft and avionics components.
AVIC’s growing expertise is bearing fruit in quality improvement, according to Pawel Paszak, director of the China Monitor program at the Warsaw Institute, a think tank in the Polish capital. While their drones do not match the best deals from American and Israeli companies, they are increasingly competitive and the price differential is significant: AVIC’s major drones offer between $ 1 and $ 2 million each. , compared to more than $ 15 million for a comparable American. model. “Maybe Chinese drones aren’t as good as American drones,” Paszak says. “But 15 drones instead of one, and no doubt about human rights? That’s a good deal.” —With Lucille Liu, Colum Murphy and Nick Wadhams
LOWER LINE –
AVIC sold drones and other military equipment valued at $ 22.5 billion in 2019, making it the world’s No. 6 leading arms exporter, behind only U.S. companies.