Tuesday, in the midst of growing anxiety over China’s threats to use force to reaffirm its claim to the autonomous island republic, Taiwan demonstrated its self-developed drone technology.
The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which creates military technology, provided a rare look at the Jian Xiang drone and other unmanned combat aerial vehicles. The Jian Xiang drone is intended to disrupt enemy radars.
A vehicle is hauling 12 of the single-use drones, sometimes known as loitering weapons. They are propelled into the air by a built-in rocket and then steered toward their targets by a propeller engine.
According to Chi Li-ping, head of the institute’s Aeronautical System Research Division, any nation that is “confident in itself” will devise plans and create defensive technologies.
According to Chi, unmanned combat aircraft vehicles are “a future trend.”
Taiwan’s army started receiving the first of 100 helicopter drones it had ordered from the institution last month. “This is why we are doing research into it and planning out certain measures,” the institute said.
Chi emphasised the significance of these devices in transmitting photos to the army’s command and communication systems for review and transmission to combat troops.
Taiwan has also developed the Teng Yun, which resembles the American MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle and can stay aloft for up to 24 hours.
Even while the US and other countries have long utilised drones to target accused terrorists and other targets, they have proven particularly useful in Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
While Kyiv has had success with low-cost Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles from Turkey, which carry light, laser-guided bombs, Moscow has bought drones from Iran.
Meanwhile, China has continued to advance the development of its own drones, some of which have been exported.
In response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, China increased its military threat against the island.
In what appeared to be a practise run for a potential blockade and invasion of the island that would almost certainly draw in Taiwan’s main supporter, the US, along with American allies including Japan and Australia, it fired missiles over the island and held live-fire military drills in six self-declared zones.
