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Chinese Drone Crashes in Cambodia

The Cambodian Air Force is still investigating the drone which crashed on Friday in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district amid shrouding mystery.

Air Force commander General Soeng Samnang yesterday said his working team is still conducting a probe into it.

“I believe when the drone was flown for testing, it malfunctioned and crashed,” Gen Samnang said.

Gen Samnang refused to reveal who owned the drone and where it was from.

He said that the said drone is now kept at the Air Force base in Phnom Penh and had the capability of flying between six to eight hours.

Defence Ministry spokesman General Chhum Sucheat could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A Kiri Sakor district police officer said the drone was cut into pieces and transported to the Defence Ministry in Phnom Penh for further investigation about its nature and source.

According to a military website identified the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone as: Harbin BZK-005, with ID number 1701002 and is believed to have been operated by a neighbouring country for aerial surveillance when it went out of control and crashed.

The BZK-005 is a high altitude, UAV used primarily as a long range reconnaissance aircraft designed by Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Harbin Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd.

ZK-005 has a few stealth features integrated into its design. It is believed that a satellite data link antenna is held in its large upper body dome.

Under the body, there are optic-electric sensor systems. BZK-005 has a cruising speed of around 170 km/hour, service ceiling 8,000 metres, max take-off weight is around 1,200 kilogrammes  with a maximum payload of over 150 kilogrammes.

Cambodian Mine Action Centre experts on Saturday inspected the crashed drone in Kiri Sakor district and confirmed that there were no explosives.

CMAC director general Heng Ratana said that his experts in collaboration with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces on Saturday conducted a security check on the crashed drone in Koh Sdech commune’s Smach village.

“Any further investigation is not under our jurisdiction,” he said.