China appears to be using a new type of BZK-005 drone that might be capable of disrupting the radio communications in the Taiwanese military and causing the radar system to malfunction, a military source said yesterday.
The military is closely monitoring traces of this upgraded drone after the Japanese Ministry of Defense recently captured images of a BZK-005 drone, which had a large number of antennas under the nose of the aircraft and a pod of unknown purpose attached under the belly of the craft.
Defense experts in other countries had warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has bolstered its electronic warfare capability by installing antennaes and pods on some of the drones, a military source told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times), adding that they could be deployed to disrupt all radio communications within the chain of command in the Taiwanese military and cause the radar system to malfunction.
Photo: Screen grab from Japan’s Ministry of Defense Web site
Drones equipped with electronic warfare capabilities would also make it difficult for the Taiwanese military to accurately launch missile attacks and intercept Chinese missiles and aircraft.
The PLA would attempt to use such interference in the initial stage of a possible invasion in Taiwan and during an attack of on the country, they said.
The US military also warned that the PLA might use a swarm of small drones equipped with microwave reconnaissance jamming or electromagnetic weapons to fly into Taiwanese airspace and conduct various jamming operations, they added.
The new BZK-005 reconnaissance drone was spotted on Friday last week, when it flew to the west Pacific via the airspace between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island and flew back using the same route, based on the information made public by the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The PLA uses BZK-005 and TB-001 drones to fly to Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, as both have reconnaissance and attack capabilities. The former is a large and multifunctional drone, with a maximum endurance time of up to 40 hours. Its cruising altitude could reach 3,000m to 7,000m.
In other news, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said in an opening ceremony of the Asia Drone AI Innovation and Application Expo in Chiayi County that some drone manufacturers from the US are to come to Taiwan next month to seek business opportunities.
“I have talked with National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) about the issues with the drone industry, who said that the National Development Fund should be used to support the industry, as it is important to the country,” Kuo said.
“Although there are not enough drone manufacturers in Taiwan, we are looking to expand the scale of the industry with the US,” he said.
“We also hope that the industry could generate an output value of NT$30 billion [US$925 million] by 2028,” he added.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
STILL ON THE TABLE: The government is not precluding advanced nuclear power generation if it is proven safer and the nuclear waste issue is solved, the premier said Taiwan is willing to be in step with the world by considering new methods of nuclear energy generation and to discuss alternative approaches to provide more stable power generation and help support industries, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The government would continue to develop diverse and green energy solutions, which include considering advances in nuclear energy generation, he added. Cho’s remarks echoed President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments in an interview last month, saying the government is not precluding “advanced and newer nuclear power generation” if it is proven to be safer and the issue of nuclear waste is resolved. Lai’s comment had
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
RSS