the ch-5 is the latest ucav of the rainbow series, with a wingspan of 21 metres, a payload of 1,000 kg, a maximum takeoff weight of over 3 tonnes, a service ceiling of 9 km, an endurance of up to 60 hours and a range of 10,000 km. thanks to shared data link it can cooperate with ch-3 and ch-4 drones. it conducted its maiden flight in august 2015 and its first airshow flight (in northern hebei province) in july 2017. the drone can carry 16 missiles at a single time. there were also plans to extend its range up to 20,00 km. chinese officials claimed the ch-5 rainbow was similar in performance to the us mq-9 reaper and "may come in at less than half the price." compared to the garrett tpe331 turboprop engine mounted on the reaper, ch-5 is equipped with an unidentified turbo-charged piston engine, with less than half the horsepower. this choice limits the maximum altitude of the ch-5 to 9 km compared to the 12–15 km of the reaper, but it also extends ch-5's endurance to 60 hours compared to 14 hour of the reaper's. future blocks of ch-5 will be able to stay in the air for up to 120 hours.