Pictures released earlier this week by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) showing mysterious unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) hovering above and parked on the rear landing deck of a Chinese frigate at sea have left defense analysts scratching their heads.
The pictures, first published by Japanese media on Wednesday, were taken while three People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels — the Type 054A missile frigates Zhoushan and Xuzhou, and the electronic reconnaissance and missile tracking Beijixing — conducted exercises in the West Pacific, about 700km off Japan’s Okinotori.
A Japanese surveillance aircraft spotted the vessels on April 29 as they crossed from the East China Sea into the strait of Osumi, the first such crossing by PLAN vessels in nine years. The ships were again spotted on their return journey on Monday.
Photo courtesy of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force
Aside from the rare crossing in a channel usually used by the US 7th Fleet, what mystified defense enthusiasts were two pictures released by the JMSDF, one showing three unmanned helicopters on the platform of the Zhoushan and another showing a similar type of UAV hovering above the vessel.
The People’s Liberation Army has a longstanding interest in UAV technology, and several civilian and military firms, including Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), have been working on a variety of models. However, China has yet to confirm the successful development of an unmanned helicopter that is heavy enough and capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) at sea, where runways are in short supply.
Very few models worldwide have demonstrated the capability so far. One of them, the Camcopter S-100s, built by Austrian firm Schiebel Corp, held a successful trial at sea last month on board an Italian naval ship.
According to analysts, the UAVs seen on the Zhoushan bear a striking resemblance to the S-100. The S-100 was showcased at the Fourth China International Exhibition on Police and Anti-Terrorism Technology and Equipment Exhibition held in Beijing in April last year, and defense-related Chinese Web sites have paid close attention to the device.
Rumors have circulated in defense circles that China may have placed orders for several S-100s. Although the EU has an arms embargo on China, the rules appear to have been relaxed in recent years, limiting exports to purely defensive platforms.
Foreign clients of the S-100 include Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Libya and South Korea, which experienced a crash in Incheon on May 11, killing one person. Pakistan has also expressed interest in acquiring the UAV.
Another possibility raised by some experts is that Chinese firms reverse-engineered the S-100, as they have often done with foreign technology.
One model, China’s Sunward Tech Star-lite SVU200, which conducted its maiden flight on land recently, looks very similar to the S-100. However, Greg Waldron of Flight Global, who attended the Beijing Air Show in September, where the SVU200 was showcased, told the Taipei Times the manufacturer had not mentioned sea capabilities for the aircraft.
Unmanned vehicles can serve a number of military purposes, including electro-optic surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition radar and transmission relay.
Such capabilities substantially increase a navy’s ability to monitor and control its surroundings. Larger models can also carry a variety of missiles.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
TRADE MISSION: After Fijian elections in December last year, pro-democratic parties formed a coalition and overruled a name change imposed by the former government The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei. The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said. Taiwan set up a trade
RSS