CH-5 / Caihong-5
A large Chinese MALE aircraft in the Rainbow family, designed for extended reconnaissance and an armed multirole configuration.
- Country / region
- China
- Programme status
- Supplier-reported status
- Sources reviewed
- 20 Sept 2026
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Multirole aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- CASC — China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics / Aerospace CH UAV
- Origin / production countries
- China
- Other names
- Caihong-5; Rainbow-5; CH 5
- Variants / configurations
- CH-5 baseline; named customer configurations require separate verification
- Operators / programme customers
- Complete CH-5-specific customer and configuration list not established
Evidence & current status
Manufacturer programme and production-base evidence are available. Specific operator configurations and several current technical fields remain undisclosed in the reviewed sources.
Role & capabilities
- Multirole aircraft
Specifications in context
- Airframe
- Large MALE multirole UAV
Manufacturer role and class description.
Source ↗ - Launch / recovery
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Propulsion
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Dimensions
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Mass
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Endurance
- Up to 30 hours in the armed configuration cited by CASI
2025 government study quoting the programme designer; not a universal maximum for all payloads.
Source ↗ - Range
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Speed
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Altitude
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Payload
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Sensors
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗ - Communications / navigation
- Not established from the reviewed public sources.
Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted.
Source ↗