Taiwan's battle with Chinese drones

The US is expected to supply Taiwan with new advanced weapons and technology to combat the surge in Chinese drone invasions of Taiwanese air space. The US state department is currently drawing up a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan under its foreign military sales programme. With the recent appearance of Chinese drones close to Taiwanese islands, US defence sources said it was reasonable to expect that counter-measure systems would be included. The Vampire counter-unmanned aerial system, designed to shoot down low-flying aircraft, including drones, is the most likely weapon to be sent to Taiwan. The same system is now being delivered to Ukraine to confront Russian and Iran-supplied armed and reconnaissance drones. For the first time, the Taiwanese military has been firing live rounds in warning shots to disperse the drones but has confirmed the next step would be to shoot them down. Beijing has been accused of resorting to “grey zone” warfare, using commercial drones to fly over Taiwanese military sites and then claiming no hostile intent. Shooting down or jamming a Chinese drone causing it to crash would not be as “escalatory” as targeting a fighter aircraft, Paul Scharre, a US drone warfare expert and former Pentagon official, said. Iran shot down an American Global Hawk long-range drone over the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf in June, 2019, Scharre said But Donald Trump, then president, decided against taking any retaliatory action against Iran because no Americans were killed or injured. However, tensions between Taiwan and China are currently so tense following the invasion rehearsal carried out by Beijing last month when Nancy Pelosi, US Speaker of the House, visited Taipei, that any targeting of a Chinese drone, commercial or military, could lead to an aggressive response. Scharre suggested it might be prudent for Taiwan to use a “non-kinetic” system against approaching Chinese drones, jamming its electronics to bring it down. “Taiwan could then claim it was just a crash and deny any involvement,” he said. Taiwan says it will deploy drone defence systems around the island and indicated it has its own domestically-produced weapons. However, the US has greater experience of combating the increasing drone threat and a system such as the Vampire which fires missiles from the back of a truck could meet Taipei’s needs. The US developed effective counter-drone weapons when Islamic state militants in Iraq and Syria started attacking American troops using commercial drones converted to carry grenades and other munitions.