“I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,” said Admiral Sam Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command. “I want to make the Chinese military utterly miserable for a month—which buys me the time for the rest of everything.”
08 July 2024
A Pentagon strategy to repel a potential invasion of Taiwain by mainland China includes drones as a deterent, or even a less-costly line of defense.
The plan is to meet a Chinese invasion with massive swarms of uncrewed combat vehicles under and on the water, as well as in the air. The success of drone tactics during the Russian invasion of Ukraine has informed the current defensive posture.
U.S. think tanks surmise that the American military—along with its Japanese ally—could beat Chinese forces if they attempt to overrun Taiwan.
However, the defensive action is also estimated to cost five-figure losses to military personnel, dozens of warships, and hundreds of fighter jet and other aircraft. In addition, the American and global economies could face ruin for many years to come.
Hopefully, cool heads will prevail, and a military scenario will be off the table for the superpowers. But to strengthen defensive readiness in the region, the U.S. State Department is looking to bolster Taiwan's drone armament via a $60.2 million sale of the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 loitering munition system. The deal, if it remains intact as reported, would still need to be formally presented to Congress.
The Switchblade 300—which has been a formidable weapon against Russian forces in Ukraine—has been deployed by the U.S. Army for more than ten years. It's lightweight enough to be carried in a soldier's backpack, has a range of slightly more than six miles, and can provide precision strike support over a target for around 15 minutes.
The larger Switchblade 600, which is designed to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles, is set to play a critical role in Replicator—the Pentagon’s unmanned systems initiative. Replicator involves drone squads that can operate in coordination with varying levels of autonomy and artificial intelligence-enabled computing.
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