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.
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