• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Chinese invasion of Taiwan likely to rely heavily on drones: Experts

ROC Central News Agency

07/08/2023 05:23 PM

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) If China were to militarily invade Taiwan, it would likely carry out its attacks by mainly using drones, which have become the face of modern warfare due to their low cost, high efficiency, and ability to minimize casualties, military experts said Saturday.

The Taiwan Association for Strategic Assessment (TASA) held a seminar in Taipei that addressed the threats to Taiwan's security posed by Chinese military drones.

The ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has put drones at the forefront of modern warfare, TASA head Hu Chen-pu (胡鎮埔) said at the seminar.

China has been developing drones at a fast pace in recent years and has amassed a large number of military drones, which it began using to circle Taiwan a few months ago, Hu said, adding that the drones that China had flown around Taiwan all had combat and reconnaissance capabilities.

Noting that drones are relatively low cost, highly efficient, and do not cause any casualties to the user's side, Hu said that if China were to militarily invade Taiwan, drones would be its primary weapons of choice.

Ou Si-fu (歐錫富), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China has been regularly employing drones in its military activities since September last year.

The models it has typically used have included ASN drones used by the Chinese Army and Army Rocket Force, the BZK-005 drone used by the Chinese Navy, the GJ-1 and WZ-7 drones used by the Chinese Air Force, and the JWP-02 drones used by the Chinese Army Rocket Force, Ou added.

Drones have surveillance, reconnaissance, deception, and strike capabilities, and have become ubiquitous in modern warfare, Ou said.

As China is not part of the Missile Technology Control Regime, it has established itself as a major drone supplier, which is something the world should pay close attention to, he said.

Drones have been widely incorporated in combat beyond the range of target acquisition, hence the nickname "eyes in the sky," Lo Cheng-fang (羅正方), CEO of Geosat Aerospace & Technology Inc said at the seminar.

Drones with combat and reconnaissance capabilities will be the focus of Taiwan's domestic drone development over the next five years, Lo said.

In addition, Lo said, the Chien Hsiang anti-radiation loitering munitions developed by the state-run weapons developer National Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology would be a formidable deterrence in electronic warfare.

Thanks to the effective use of loitering munitions by Ukraine against Russia, Taiwan's military has expressed its desire to order more Chien Hsiang drones, which would likely lead to 150 of them in total being made by the time their production cycle ends in 2025, Lo said.

(By Wu Sheng-hung and Sean Lin)

Enditem/kb