Taiwan could share real-time intelligence with the US and Japan through naval reconnaissance drones, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
US-based defense contractor General Atomics is to deliver four MQ-9B Sea Guardians starting in 2025.
The uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) — a navalized version of the Reaper drones used by the US Air Force in recent campaigns — are designed to detect ships and radars, the newspaper reported.
Photo: EPA
These functions could be key to defending Taiwan against a hypothetical Chinese attack, as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is likely to include surface combatants and submarines, it said.
The drones would enable a common operational picture to be formed by Taiwan’s armed forces, the US and regional allies, it said, referring to the practice of sharing an identical and continuously updated set of information across multiple commands.
“We will be taking a practical approach towards ensuring that integration is done as quickly as possible,” a source briefed on the project was quoted as saying.
The sharing of data between Taiwan, the US, Japan and the Philippines would be a crucial capability, but one that Beijing deems to be among its “big taboos,” a senior US defense official told the Financial Times. “China will see it as escalatory.”
“The MQ-9 is a relatively new system to this theater, and we have tried very hard to begin to develop an M-Q9 web of orbits with our partners out here — much like we have in the Middle East, Africa and other places in Europe,” former US Marine Forces Pacific commander Steve Rudder was quoted as saying.
Following the fielding of the UAVs by the US Air Force in Hawaii and in Japan alongside the Japanese navy and coast guard, the alliance would “begin to explore how to build a common operational picture,” he was quoted as saying.
However, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday wrote on Twitter that it has “not yet been informed of plans to share real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones with the US and Japan.”
The MQ-9B’s high-altitude and loiter capabilities “absolutely justify” the price tag of the US-made drones, National Drone Industry Association chairman Max Lo (羅正方) said.
Taiwan’s acquisition of the UAVs would mean the nation could share intelligence with US naval forces in the Pacific region and other democratic partners, allowing the conduct of precision strikes against the PLA, he said, speaking about a hypothetical conflict.
The procurement of four drones is insufficient for Taiwan’s defense, which requires a strong indigenous UAV industry, he said.
Taipei needs to allocate a larger share of the defense budget for the growth of the drone sector, integrate the nation’s supply chains, and strengthen research and development capabilities, Lo said.
US drones are proven systems with high reliability and a guaranteed supply of parts, but Washington could place limits on exported drones, a defense official said on condition of anonymity.
Foreign operators could face constraints on the type and quantity of munitions that could be supplied, availability of maintenance services and being prevented from using some flight paths, they said.
Washington might demand Taiwan’s military to exclusively depend on US contractors for maintenance and upgrades, to prevent reverse-engineering, they said.
These tradeoffs make domestic drones worthwhile, even if they are less reliable than the US counterpart, they said, adding that Taiwanese systems are one-fifth of the cost of US units.
Separately, Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that fielding MQ-9Bs would significantly boost the reconnaissance, communication, and command and control of the armed forces.
MQ-9Bs could function as flying command and control nodes if Taiwanese radar stations are knocked out by enemy action, he said.
The UAV deal with the US includes 14 sets of navigation systems, 10 of which are spares that can potentially be installed in the domestically manufactured Teng Yun UAV, Su said, adding that this would be tactically advantageous.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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