Chinese military magazine gives glimpse of Beijing’s full-scale plan for Taiwan invasion
Taiwan Stait has seen rise in tensions since the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Drones could play a significant role in the event of a full-scale invasion of Taiwan, a Chinese military magazine has reported.
The article further illustrates that drones can “assassinate enemy leaders” and can be utilised to minimise conflict, adding that their targets can be Taiwan’s mobile missile launchers and heavy weaponry.
The report, which gives a glimpse of how a Chinese military’s attack on Taiwan might unfold, was published in Ordnance Industry Science Technology, reports South China Morning Post.
According to the article, once launching “the final unification war”, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would first like to “suppress the island of Taiwan in all directions – land, sea, air, space, electricity and the internet”.
During an all-out attack, drones will play a key role in order to achieve a decisive outcome, the article highlighted, noting their advantages over manned aircraft and other weapons systems.
“Manned combat aircraft can only stay in the air for a short time, usually three to four hours, which is completely different from the 30 to 40 hours of large and medium-sized drones,” it said.
It said that drones have the upper hand while attacking smaller vessels.
“Long-endurance strike and reconnaissance drones like the GJ-2/11 and BZK-005C, TB-001 could carry out real-time surveillance and cooperate with attack helicopters to mount strikes against Taiwan’s smaller vessels.”
It also said PLA could deploy WZ-7 high-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance drones and extend a blockade of Taiwan to the second island chain.
The strategic group of islands in the middle of the western Pacific Ocean includes Guam, where a US military base is located, some 2,700km (1,600 miles) from Taiwan.
Tensions have been rising in Taiwan Strait ever since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosivisited the self-ruled island in August last year, triggering strong reactions from China. The PLA, in response, launched live-fire drills around Taiwan.
PLA has been upping its arsenal with the introduction of combat drones. According to media reports, China has TB-001 long-endurance strike and reconnaissance drone, the BZK-005 and BZK-007 long-range reconnaissance drones, the KVD-001 tactical reconnaissance and damage assessment drone, and the WZ-7 reconnaissance drone.
(With inputs from agencies)
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