KH-3A Fenghuang

Fenghuang
Faction	CSAT
Type	UAV / UCAV
Seats	None
Item capacity	250 mass
Top speed	~ 350 km/h
Service ceiling	~ 8,900 m
Fuel capacity	100 fuel units
Weight	798.035 kg
Slingloadable	Yes
Primary armament	Main: 4× Jian ATGM
Secondary armament	Targeting: 1× Laser Designator Defensive: 120× Countermeasures (Flares/Chaff)
Variants	None
Games

The KH-3A Fenghuang is a fixed-wing Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle used exclusively by Pacific CSAT forces in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Apex DLC.

Overview

• Roles:
  • Observation
  • Laser targeting
  • Air-to-ground fire support

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The KH-3A Fenghuang is an unmanned aerial drone based on Chinese design. The UAV adopts the unusual canard layout and is propelled by a pusher engine. This multipurpose drone is equipped with modern tracking and tracing systems, countermeasures and also carries four air-to-ground laser guided missiles. Field Manual

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Design

This is a premium asset that requires ownership of the Apex expansion pack.

The KH-3A's airframe combines a traditional swept-wing design with that of forward mounted canards.

Armament
Its standard armament consists of four air-to-ground Jian infrared/laser-guided missiles fitted with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads.

It can carry up to four of these missiles at a time and they are mounted onto the pylons beneath its wings (two on each). The KH-3A does not support dynamic loadouts.

Operators can also manually assume control of the KH-3A in order to force its AI to utilise the integrated laser designator, which can then be used to mark targets for its own ordnance or for friendly aircraft.

Launching a salvo of Jian missiles. The KH-3A's small size allows it to easily blend into ground clutter and ambush unwary targets.

Features
A STOL aircraft by design, the KH-3A works well taking off and landing on short, bumpy landing strips or even open fields. Because of its small airframe, the KH-3A is also semi-stealthed against aircraft radars and can remain concealed from most anti-aircraft threats.

In addition, provided that the operator maintains a low enough flying height to blend into ground clutter, the KH-3A can observe targets for extended periods of time to avoid detection by enemy fighters.

Drawbacks
The KH-3A can only carry air-to-ground ATGMs. Combined with its complete lack of support for dynamic loadout functionality, it is unable to attack any ground targets other than armoured vehicles.

This lack of versatility greatly hampers its utility compared to both its larger and rotary-wing NATO counterparts, making it redundant not only against infantry but also against enemy jets/helicopters since Jian missiles cannot lock onto other aircraft (for obvious reasons).

Protection

The KH-3A has a base armour value of 50.

Hull

The hull can resist 150 points of damage. 50% of damage is always transferred onto the drone's "health" pool.

It takes 500% increased damage from high-explosive (HE) type weapons.

Engine

The engine can only take 75 points of damage before failing. 50% of damage will be transferred onto the drone's "health" pool. The engine always takes 200% increased damage from HE-type weapons.

If damaged: Lowers engine power output.
If destroyed: Causes total power loss.

Fuel tank

The fuel tank can take 150 points of damage before rupturing. 50% of damage will be transferred onto the drone's "health" pool. It takes 400% increased damage from HE-type weapons.

If damaged: Causes fuel to gradually leak, up to 50% of the tank's current capacity.
If destroyed: Entire fuel tank will be depleted over several seconds.

Control surfaces

The drone's control surfaces consist of six components:

• Ailerons (left/right)
• Elevators (left/right)
• Rudders (left/right)

All six components can resist 75 points of damage before failing (individually). They take 300% increased damage from HE-type weapons.

Depending on which specific control surface is hit, the drone's handling and agility will be degraded based on the severity of component's damage.

Stealth

The KH-3A's small airframe automatically grants it semi-stealth capability in all aspects. On infrared, it is one of the most difficult aircraft to spot from afar even when it isn't flying above massed ground clutter:

RCS

The KH-3A has a radar cross-section rating of 0.5, lowering the maximum detection range of opposing radars by half (50%).

IR

The KH-3A has superb low-observability on the infrared spectrum, and can only be detected at 50% of an infrared-based sensor's range (factor of 0.5; reduction of 50%).

Visual

The KH-3A is 30% less visible to visual-based sensors, and can only be seen at 70% of the sensor's default range (factor of 0.7).

Sensors

The KH-3A's sensors are optimised for ground attack missions:

Orange = IRST
Green = Visual

Active Radar

The KH-3A does not have an active radar as it lacks the ability to utilise any radar guided munitions.

Infrared Search and Track/Visual Sensor

IRST detection extends out to 4 km against aerial targets and 3 km against ground targets. On the other hand, visual detection has a maximum range of 3 km for aerial targets and 2.5 km for ground targets.

Both sensors are located in the targeting camera beneath the fuselage and work independently from the KH-3A's heading. They each have a minimum operating distance of 500 m, and the azimuth/elevation coverage for both is limited to 51 and 37 degrees (respectively).

The sensors are only able to track targets that are moving at speeds of 180 km/h or less. Target identities can be recognised once they get within 2 km range of the KH-3A.

Radar Warning Receiver/Passive Radar

The RWR has a 360 degree detection radius and a target recognition range of 6 km.

Laser Spot Tracker

Laser markers and infrared strobes can be tracked within a range of 6 km. It has an acquisition cone of 180 degrees.

Armament

The KH-3A's "gunner" AI controls the mounted Jian air-to-ground missiles, all of which are attached onto its wing hardpoints. The AI's camera pod has access to three fields of view and can toggle a day, night or black-hot/white-hot thermal vision mode:

Jian

Warhead	Base damage value	Proximity fuse radius (metres)	Maximum speed (m/s)
Primary (HEAT)	150	N/A	320
Secondary (KE)	999	N/A	N/A

Air-to-ground anti-tank guided missiles.

Primarily relies on the KH-3A's Infrared Search and Track sensor to function but can also lock-on via laser or manual (MCLOS) guidance instead. For the latter two, either the KH-3A's AI "gunner" must self-designate a target/rely on an external designation source, or the drone's operator must toggle the missile's live camera feed on their interface.

Jian missiles are soft launched and will only ignite 0.2 seconds after being fired with an initial velocity of 40 m/s. It takes their motors a further 6 seconds to reach a top speed of up to 320 m/s.

Its warhead is of a tandem high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) design. The explosive charge has a blast radius of 5 metres, while the kinetic submunition is launched with a velocity of 1,000 m/s and can penetrate up to 1,000 millimetres of vehicle armour. It is one of the most powerful AGMs; being easily capable of destroying MBTs like the MBT-52 Kuma or the T-140K Angara in a single hit.

The seeker can lock onto targets (infrared/laser) at a maximum distance of 8 km, though it is actually only capable of tracking at ranges of up to 6 km. For MCLOS, the missile can be fully controlled up to a maximum distance of 8 km.

It has a fixed lock-on cone of 30 degrees both vertically and horizontally, but will only be able to lock onto targets moving at speeds of 126 km/h or less. The seeker has a 55% chance of losing lock to smoke countermeasures but if locking on via laser, then the seeker cannot be confused unless the laser spot is removed for whatever reason.

Trivia

• The Fenghuang is based on the real-world "Rainbow" UCAV developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC); more specifically the CH-3A variant.
• Fenghuang (Traditional Chinese: 鳳凰, Simplified Chinese: 凤凰) translates to "Phoenix" in Mandarin.
  • Likewise, its Jian air-to-ground missiles translates directly to "Sword" (Traditional Chinese: 劍, Simplified Chinese: 剑).

Gallery

External links

• Wikipedia: CASC Rainbow

See also

Drones of comparable role and configuration

• MQ-4A Greyhawk (Light NATO/Heavy CSAT/AAF counterpart)
• UCAV Sentinel (Heavy NATO counterpart, ArmA 3: Jets only)
• Pchela-1T (Unarmed Russian Armed Forces/CDF counterpart, ArmA 2 only)