In a military switch with direct implications for Taiwan, the Pentagon is changing the way it spies on China.
US General Gary North, Pacific Air Forces Commander, has announced that three Global Hawk drones — the US’ most advanced unmanned planes — are to be based at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam.
They are expected to start operating from Guam as soon as tomorrow.
North confirmed that the drones would gather intelligence and conduct surveillance and reconnaissance.
The Global Hawks will eventually take over completely from the U-2 spy planes and the RC-135 surveillance aircraft in the Asia-Pacific region.
These are the manned aircraft that currently fly high over the Taiwan Strait at regular intervals to monitor China’s missile buildup and the military forces facing Taiwan.
The spy planes — and now the drones — would probably provide the first major clues if China began moving towards an attack or invasion.
“The move to drones is definitely something for Taiwan to take note of. It’s a significant development,” said John Pike, head of the Washington-based think tank Global Security.
He said that it signaled Washington’s continued commitment to gathering intelligence in the region following the retirement of the U-2s and the RC-135s.
While it will take some months to establish that the drones can do as good a job as the manned spy planes, analysts believe they will provide a comparable service over the Taiwan Strait.
The drones do not fly as high as the spy planes, but will cover Chinese missile fields and bases in all of the coastal areas facing Taiwan.
Global Hawks can reach altitudes of 19km — well above the range of most defensive weapons — and can stay in the air for more than 32 hours at a time.
“It flies for more than a day and it flies at very good speeds and so you could transit a long distance,” North said.
While the exact figures are classified, it is believed that Global Hawks can fly about 16,000km on one mission.
The first of the three drones to be stationed on Guam arrived there earlier this month following an 18-hour journey from Beale Air Force Base in California.
Officially known as the RQ-4 Global Hawk, the drones are made by Northrop Grumman and cost about US$183 million each.
The drones have been described as having a “bulbous, whale-shaped nose” and have a top-mounted engine and V-tail. They are 13m long with a wingspan of 35m. Using information gathered by the spy plane program, the Pentagon reported this summer that China now has more than 1,400 missiles aimed at Taiwan and that despite much warmer economic relations “there have been no meaningful actions on the part of the mainland to reduce its military presence opposite the island.”
The Pentagon has concluded that with China’s rapidly expanding arsenal of ships, missiles and aircraft the cross-strait military balance continues to “shift in the mainland’s favor.”
With this in mind, US Representative Edward Royce told the US House of Representatives this week: “To help close the gap, Taiwan has had a pending request to buy additional F-16 fighter jets. The [US President Barack] Obama administration is still ‘studying’ this proposal.”
“Taiwan faces one of the most complex and lethal military threats in the world. Across the region, in response to China’s buildup and increasing assertiveness, China’s neighbors are moving to strengthen their security relationships with the US,” he said.
“This gravitation to the US will only last as long as the US is seen as a credible guarantor of stability. Moving forward with this F-16 sale would be an appropriate signal to Taiwan and the region. If we want cross-strait detente to succeed, Taiwan will have to operate from a position of strength,” Royce said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat