Kazakhstan eyes buying Chinese drones

Kazakhstan is considering buying Chines unmanned drones, KazTAG reports citing a source in China. “During the visit of the delegation of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry to China we offered to supply drones for Kazakhstan Armed Forces. Kazakhstan delegation agreed to consider procurement of samples,” KazTAG’s source from China said. China is developing its own drones and helicopters based on Israeli models. The project of Pterodactyl drone failed in 2011, however this year Chinese engineers resolved numerous hardware and software problems and presented new samples at the air show in Zhuhai. Pterodactyl is 9 meters long with a wingspread of 14 meters. It weighs 1,100kg. Its flying range is up to 4 thousand km with an altitude ceiling of 5km. According to American experts, MQ-1 Predator used by American army and CIS since 1995 is similar to Pterodactyl. The experts believe that the cost of the Chinese drone will not exceed $1 million. Chinese engineers are also working on smaller drones for air intelligence.