China plans to build nearly 42,000 military drones over the next eight years, a Pentagon report estimated on Friday.
The land and sea-based drones are expected to cost about US$10.5 billion.
While the US Department of Defense’s annual report to US Congress on the Chinese military did not detail the potential impact of such a huge drone fleet on Taiwan, an analyst at a Washington-based think tank said it would be “substantial.”
Photo: Reuters
He said the autonomous aerial vehicles would be used to gather intelligence on a constant basis,and in the case of military conflict, could fill the skies over Taiwan to stage bombing and missile attacks.
Extensive references in the report to the Chinese threat to Taiwan are carried in separate Taipei Times coverage.
Three of the drones now under development, the Yilong, Sky Saber and Lijian, are to be configured to fire precision weapons, the report said.
“The acquisition and development of longer-range [drones] will increase China’s ability to conduct long-range reconnaissance and strike operations,” the report said. “China is working on a range of technologies to attempt to counter US and other countries’ ballistic missile defense systems, including maneuverable re-entry vehicles; multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicles; decoys, chaff, jamming and thermal shielding... The US and China acknowledge that the Chinese tested a hypersonic glide vehicle [last year].”
This last weapon can travel at 10 times the speed of sound and is designed to carry nuclear warheads, reports showed.
It added that China is increasing the lethality of its conventional missile force by fielding a new ballistic missile, the CSS-11 (DF-16) which possesses an estimated range of 800km to 1,000km.
“The CSS-11, coupled with the already deployed conventional variant of the CSS-5 (DF-21) medium-range ballistic missile will improve China’s ability to strike not only Taiwan, but other regional targets,” the report said.
It said that the Chinese military is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its top priority is not to defend the nation, but to preserve the power of the party.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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