A number of drones, including a radiation-resistant suicide UAV they dubbed “carrier killer,” were on display at Zhongshan Institute of Technology in Taiwan.
The anti-radiation drone “Jianxiang” (Sword Wall) was presented to journalists, according to the Chinese website Huanqiu. This type of anti-radar attack drone, which has an operating radius of over 1000 km, can attack all ships passing through the Taiwan Strait, including Chinese warships and aircraft carriers, and can put the majority of China’s radar stations in the Southeast coastal provinces within attack range.
The “Jianxiang” unmanned aerial vehicle aids the Taiwanese military in carrying out its asymmetric warfare strategies, according to Qi Liping, director of the Taiwan Institute of Aeronautics. Small volume aircraft with a maximum flight time of 5 to 6 hours, a maximum dive speed of 500 to 600 km/h, good manoeuvrability, and the ability to start missions and launch attacks quickly. After being launched, this drone’s artificial intelligence (AI) system may operate autonomously to avoid the enemy’s fire network and locate an attack target.
According to Taiwanese media, the Jianxiang is a crucial component of the Taiwan Defense Agency’s “Plan to improve combat strength.” The organisation has invested NT$11.9 billion, anticipates shipping 48 or more units annually, and will finish the entire project by 2025.
The Jianxiang system, according to the manufacturer’s introduction, can precisely attack various weapon radar systems. Jianxiang’s pinpoint attack would be difficult to evade as long as common ships in the strait had radar activity.
The anti-radiation UAV “Jianxiang” is small, highly maneuverable, and stays aloft for a considerable amount of time. Prior to launch, mission planning can also be done, and the best flight path can be used to fly above the target area to search, avoid dangers, stop artillery fire, and thwart enemy air defence missile attacks.
In response to media attention, Zhongshan Institute of Technology said it has partnered with Taiwanese manufacturers to develop and manufacture components, excluding the use of parts made by Taiwan. Mainland China manufacture. All cooperative enterprises are subjected to corporate background checks to prove that they have no Chinese capital and do not do business with China; All people entering and exiting are subjected to strict security checks, etc., when passing through the monitoring and inspection unit to ensure that there is no state of Chinese-made components entering.
According to Taiwanese media, the Jianxiang UAV has passed the initial combat assessment, is capable of flying over the Taiwan Strait and carrying out a “suicide attack” on China’s coastal land-based air defense radar. Jianxiang has the ability to analyze electronic parameters and move automatically, and can perform a high-speed “suicide attack” after detecting the enemy’s radar signal. It only needs the ability to fly one way, so it’s not like other types of attack or reconnaissance UAVs that need to consider the issues of recall and reuse.
It is known that since 2019, Taiwan Air Force’s Air Defense Missile Command has prepared a five-year budget of NT$80 billion to build a radiation-resistant unmanned aerial vehicle system called “” Jianxiang Project”. This project has been approved by the Legislative Yuan. These bee-type anti-radiation drones can target the electromagnetic waves of enemy ships’ weapons and radar systems to launch an attack.
The Zhongshan Institute of Science assessed that the Jiangxiang system is cheaper than the anti-radiation missile “Tianjian-2A” (Tianjian-2A) and even cheaper than the American-made AGM-88, which costs hundreds of millions of yuan. . According to the press, the cost of Jianxiang UAV is not more than NT$25 million.
The Zhongshan Institute of Science said that Jiangxiang is currently in the mass production stage and will become standard equipment of the Air Defense Missile Command. It is expected to produce 104 Jianxiang UAVs within 6 years from 2019 to 2025; The Jianxiang UAV can stay in the air for a long time, when the target is found, it will carry out a suicide attack. So Jianxiang is both a plane and a missile. After Jianxiang is launched, it will not be recovered.
The Jianxiang UAVs displayed by the Zhongshan Institute of Technology are all mounted on launchers and one launcher can carry 12 UAVs. Qi Lipping pointed out that the drone can be used alone to attack or “swarm attack” and suppress all radiation sources including land-based radar stations, ships of other countries.
The Jianxiang UAV launchers can be maneuvered and deployed on islands outside the main island of Taiwan, and can even be launched from the ship’s launch module.
However, Mainland Chinese media said that, although the National Defense Agency and Taiwan Aviation Research Institute tried to promote the power of the Jianxiang drone, experts expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the drone. whether it has a range of 1000km or not because there is no corresponding fuel tank on this small aircraft.
on November 15, Taiwan Zhongshan Institute of Technology invited the media to visit and learn about the development process of military UAVs to introduce the independent research and development achievements of the company. Taiwanese UAVs. It was first revealed that the Taiwanese military spent NT$780 million to purchase 50 sets of 100 unmanned helicopters “tactical short-range unmanned search and reconnaissance vehicle”, with functions such as automatic take-off and landing with an operating radius of more than 30 km, a flight time of more than 1 hour, and strong winds of level 6. It will undertake reconnaissance and tactical surveillance tasks in areas. offshore and coastal. In addition, there are large-sized UAVs Tengyun (Dang Van), UAV Ruiyuan-1 (Thuy Dien-1).
In particular, the main task of the large Tengyun UAV is to search for targets and conduct electronic reconnaissance from a long distance. The operating radius is greater than 1,100 km and the continuous flight time in the air is more than 20 hours, capable of navigation and control via satellite. R&D review has now been completed, upon completion of the operational review next year, will begin mass production according to Air Force needs.
