Role & capabilities
- Surveillance
- Communications relay
- Modular mission equipment
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Multirole aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- CASC — China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics
- Origin / production countries
- China
- Other names
- Caihong-3; Rainbow-3; 彩虹-3
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Dated 2011 values are preserved explicitly. A 2025 manufacturer account confirms ongoing family work but does not establish uniform current specifications or customer inventories.
CH-3 is a medium-size aircraft in CASC's Rainbow, or Caihong, portfolio. The manufacturer's original description presents a system comprising an aircraft, a vehicle-mounted ground-control station and support equipment. It offers different mission payloads for surveillance, communications relay and other information-gathering roles. It is substantially distinct from the larger CH-4 and CH-5 already covered in the catalogue.
CASC's 2011 product entry supplies unusually clear baseline performance figures. Those values are useful only when kept attached to that dated configuration. They are not automatically valid for every later CH-3 development, civil mapping version or export installation.
A November 2025 manufacturer account describes continuing CH-3-family flight trials, software adaptation and customer training, establishing active programme work beyond the original product sheet. It does not disclose a clean variant-by-variant delivery register or a new universal data table. This profile consequently retains supplier-reported status and separates the historical numerical baseline from ongoing development. The family name is not treated as proof that all offered sensors or mission packages are installed simultaneously on a customer aircraft.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Wheeled take-off and landing | 2011 baseline configuration. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Maximum take-off 630 kg | 2011 baseline supplier specification. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Up to 12 hours | 2011 baseline; loading conditions not specified. Source ↗ |
| Range | 200 km operating radius | Radius, not maximum flight distance; 2011 configuration. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Cruise 220 km/h | 2011 baseline. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | Cruise 5,000 m | Cruise figure, not maximum ceiling. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Maximum mission payload 100 kg | 2011 baseline supplier specification. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
Suggest a correction to this entry →
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.