Electromagnetic warfare is crucial to modern combat and foundational to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself, a retired top general told a conference in Taipei yesterday about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Dominating the radio spectrum and information battlespace, and not superior firepower, is the decisive factor in modern warfare, retired lieutenant general Hu Yen-nien (胡延年) told the seminar hosted by the Taiwan Thinktank on the PLA’s Rocket Force, naval and air power, and cyber and electronic warfare capabilities.
Uncrewed aerial vehicles cannot conduct reconnaissance, attack or distraction operations if their navigation, communication, command and control capabilities lack electronic countermeasures, said Hu, who was deputy chief for electronics, communications and information of the general staff.
Photo: Aaron Tu, Taipei Times
A force that loses the electromagnetic warfare fight is vulnerable to hostile drone operations and would eventually be forced to relinquish the initiative, he said.
In addition to buying more drones, the armed forces must develop defenses against enemy drones, including electronic systems capable of neutralizing opposing drones, disrupting communications and projecting false targets, he said.
Much of Taiwan’s key infrastructure uses automated supervisory control and data acquisition systems, which are susceptible to electromagnetic warfare and cyberwarfare, he said.
The appropriate amount of effort for hardening the nation’s defenses against such attacks must be considered, he said.
Modern precision-guided munitions with a circular error probability of 10m or less can reliably hit radar systems, whether they are transmitting radio waves or not, which renders anti-radiation missiles obsolete, he said.
The circular error probability is the radius of the circle within which a munition aiming at its center has a 50 percent probability of striking.
The US shuttered the production of anti-radiation missiles about 10 to 15 years ago, Hu said.
Taiwan uses US-made AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, which are on its arms procurement lists.
Former National Security Bureau director-general Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙) said Taiwan should do more to protect government and civilian systems from cyberattacks.
In response to then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022, China hacked the Web sites of the Presidential Office, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and digital billboards in train stations and convenience stores, he said.
The last likely landed a harder psychological blow on Taiwanese than any military drill the PLA has conducted since then, Lee said.
Last year, the PLA established the Information Support Force, an integrated, multi-departmental and inter-platform organization, he said.
It also announced the creation of the Army Service Arms University and dedicated schools of information technology and logistics, all with the intent to deepen integration and coordination in its forces, Lee said.
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