The US Department of Defense needs to “swiftly develop counter drone capabilities,” as US forces are unprepared for threats from low-cost drones in the Middle East or in potential conflicts with China over Taiwan, a US think tank said on Wednesday.
US air dominance is being undermined by drones used as mass precision weapons, as seen in the Middle East, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said in a report.
CNAS defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn and research assistant Molly Campbell in the report analyzed US combat operations in the Middle East to assess whether the country is prepared for drone threats, especially from China.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Since 2004, Iran-produced drones have provided Tehran-backed proxy forces with cheap precision weapons more accurate than missiles or rockets, imposing disproportionate costs on the US, the report said.
US troops have used missiles costing up to millions of dollars to take down drones worth US$50,000, which is not cost-effective or sustainable, CNAS said.
The report described China as Washington’s “foremost strategic threat,” and said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “is rapidly advancing its drone capabilities by developing more autonomous systems and acquiring them at scale.”
CNAS conducted a tabletop exercise to examine US capabilities against Chinese drone attacks if a protracted war over Taiwan took place, with US forces operating from a Japanese outlying island and the Philippines, the report said.
The exercise showed that Chinese drones pose a very different threat than those in the Middle East or Ukraine, it said.
Given the Indo-Pacific region’s vast distances and geography, sustained drone attacks could suppress US forces and overwhelm active defenses, such as jammers, missile interceptors and high-power microwaves, the report said.
CNAS recommended that the US build large stockpiles of proven counter drone systems and invest in mobile, easily repositioned defenses to protect forces across the region.
“Without deep magazines of substantially enhanced counter-drone capabilities, the United States risks having its distributed warfighting strategies overwhelmed by massed Chinese drone attacks, and could lose a war over Taiwan,” it said.
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