On Sept. 14, the Khurais oil field and the Abqaiq oil processing plants in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province were attacked by uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) and ballistic missiles.
During the attack, the trajectories of several of the missiles passed through the operational range of Saudi Arabia’s Patriot missile radar array, but the system failed to launch a counterattack.
A UN panel of experts on Yemen has been dispatched to Saudi Arabia to investigate the possible source of the UAVs and missiles, but the attack once again testifies to modern warfare’s innovative and asymmetric aspects.
Yemen’s Houthi militia immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but analysts suggest that launching such a large-scale precision strike on 19 targets at the same time is beyond the group’s capability.
US officials, after sharing intelligence information with Saudi Arabia and conducting an evaluation, believe that it was Iran, a Houthi ally, who launched the attack by dispatching more than 20 military drones and firing at least 12 ballistic missiles.
The attack seems to have successfully circumvented the six Patriot surface-to-air missile battalions deployed in Saudi Arabia. Experts generally attribute the bypass to the drones’ lower flight altitude and speed, both of which fall below ballistic and cruise missiles.
As a result, the Patriot system failed to effectively detect the invading UAVs, as they did not trigger the conditions that would launch a missile counterattack. This demonstrates how an asymmetric combat strategy can be deployed in symmetric warfare.
At this year’s Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology showed the indigenous Jian Hsiang (Flying Sword) anti-radiation drone to demonstrate the progress of its drone research and development efforts.
While the institute’s core task is to implement the government’s national defense autonomy policies, the Jian Hsiang drone was built on concepts that it stopped developing in the 1990s and were later plagiarized by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to mass produce its ASN-301 UAVs.
The Teng Yun medium-altitude long-endurance drone, which was also on display, had previously been shown to the public at the 2015 exhibition.
Four years have passed, but the progress of the Teng Yun drone has stagnated and remains at the stage of changing engines and modifying structures for the upgraded 2.0 version. It has not undergone any trial flights or missile-mounting tests.
When the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser the USS Antietam sailed through the Taiwan Strait in late July, the PLA dispatched J-11 and Su-30 fighters as an airborne warning and deployed its Guizhou Soar Dragon high-altitude long-endurance drone for surveillance and reconnaissance.
More recently, an aerial image of a rehearsal for the PLA’s National Day military parade showed appearances by both the AVIC 601-S “Sharp Sword” drone — to be deployed on China’s aircraft carriers — and the long-rumored DR-8 supersonic reconnaissance “Wuzhen” drone.
It is apparent that Taiwan’s military lags behind its Chinese counterpart in terms of drone development and application.
Long aware of the importance of drones in future warfare, the US military has tested the US Marine Corps’ Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, which integrates optoelectronic technologies and electronic attacks to detect, trace, identify, and intercept drones.
Not only was the system deployed on the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge for testing, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer brought down an Iranian drone near the Strait of Hormuz with the system in July.
On another occasion, the Israeli military called on private companies to study electromagnetic spectrum detection using drone electromagnetic waves and developing counter-drone technologies that can gain control over enemy UAVs.
By contrast, Taiwan’s national research institutions for military technology are still at the stage of watching movies to learn about drone assault capabilities and come up with ideas.
Since the nation is still at the initial stage, the government should read carefully and grasp the conditions of US arms sales to Taiwan disclosed in the recently declassified memo sent by then-US president Ronald Reagan, and take advantage of the recent Taiwan-friendly atmosphere prevalent in US executive and legislative branches to procure drones and push for cooperation in counter-drone technologies.
This would be helpful to the nation’s armed forces obtaining second-mover advantage in innovation and asymmetric warfare.
The government should stop sitting idly by as the military continues to fall further behind.
Lu Li-shih is a former instructor at the Republic of China Naval Academy and former captain of the ROCS Hsin Chiang.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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