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.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
IN THE MIDDLE: Some of the lawmakers defended the trip as an opportunity for investment, cooperation and to see models that could help modernize Panama A planned trip by some Panamanian lawmakers to Taiwan has unleashed the latest diplomatic spat with China as the Central American country tries to navigate the turbulent waters between the Asian superpower and the US. The Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US ambassador to the country on Wednesday criticized China’s diplomats in Panama for asking the lawmakers to cancel their trip to Taiwan, with the ministry accusing the Chinese embassy of “meddling” in its internal affairs. That followed comments from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino a week earlier saying that the planned Taiwan trip did not have the approval of
RSS