Taiwan and the US should invest in low-cost, long-range drones to be deployed en masse in the event of a Taiwan-China military conflict, a US think tank said in a recent report.
In a report titled “Swarms over the Strait: Drone Warfare in a Future Fight to Defend Taiwan,” released on Thursday last week, Washington-based think tank the Center for a New American Security said a diversified fleet of drones could help stave off a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“The United States needs a diverse fleet of aerial drones that includes a mix of higher-end and cheaper systems,” the report said.
Photo: Screen grab from AeroVironment’s Facebook page
That mix should include “‘good enough’ long-range drones for target acquisition and strike,” as well as “a smaller number of stealthy drones that can conduct surveillance in highly contested airspace,” along with “more sophisticated drones ... as a part of the collaborative combat aircraft program,” it said.
However, as the US alone could not compete with China in drone production, Taiwan would also need to invest heavily in building its own drone fleet, the report said.
“Chinese forces are better positioned to leverage drones than the United States or Taiwan. China already has a large and diverse fleet of relatively inexpensive drones that it could employ to find and attack US and Taiwanese forces,” it said.
The US would need to acquire more long-range drones, Taiwan would need to build up its fleet of short and medium-range drones, and both would need to develop “more sophisticated and autonomous drones for the future,” it said.
If a conflict broke out today in the Taiwan Strait, China would have an advantage due to its larger drone fleet and ability to manufacture military drones at a lower cost, the report said.
The US Department of Defense should “explore efforts to repurpose existing technologies, such as the Vampire system created for Ukraine, and find gun or cannon-based systems that can be fielded quickly and are much cheaper than missile interceptors,” it said.
The US military would also face a geographical disadvantage, as it would need to operate drones from bases farther away from the conflict than China would, it said.
“I don’t know if this is a fair fight,” Center for a New American Security senior fellow and defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn said.
In the Taiwan Strait scenario, many factors would work against the US, but its forces could do a lot to level the playing field to some extent, Pettyjohn said.
For example, the US could prioritize the development of “good enough” long-range drones that are cheap and can be purchased and replaced in large quantities, she said.
Such an approach would be diametrically opposed to the US Department of Defense’s current approach, which uses long and medium-range precision drones such as the RQ-4 Global Hawk and the MQ-9 Reaper, she said.
Those types of drones are in high demand and provide valuable tracking and strike capabilities, but over time are likely to be shot down, she said.
As an example of cheaper, but effective, drones that could be used for Taiwan’s defense, the US and Taiwan could employ loitering munitions, also known as exploding or suicide drones, which could attack Chinese ships in the Strait, the report said.
Taiwan could also use multilayered defense systems capable of disabling Chinese drones, it said.
The report recommended that the US establish a rigorous training program for drone pilots and develop operational concepts and tactics for the use of drones throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
Meanwhile, Taiwan could cultivate its commercial drone industry, invest in suicide drones and study how to integrate drones with ground firepower, it said.
Taiwan could also focus on maritime drones and inexpensive first-person view drone systems, which are commonly used by amateurs to film videos, but could also be used as single-use attack drones, it said.
“Ultimately, the United States must recognize that while drones alone would not win a war against China to defend Taiwan, they have become a key part of the competition and the United States cannot afford to remain behind,” the report said.
“Drones provide affordable airpower, but they have not replaced traditional air forces or been used to obtain air superiority,” it 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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats