The Financial Times reported on June 8 that contractor General Atomics plans to deliver four MQ-9B Sea Guardian UAVs to Taiwan from 2025. In addition, the newspaper cited four sources close to the deal as saying that the US will allow these UAVs to be integrated into the system that the US and Japan's Self-Defense Forces will use.
MQ-9 Sea Guardian UAV flies over a US warship
The US administration under Donald Trump announced a contract to sell more than $5 billion worth of arms to Taiwan, including four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) worth $600 million.
The integration allows the US and its allies and partners to share information collected in real time from UAVs.
The MQ-9B is a maritime version of the UAV used by the US Air Force in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. It can search, track, and target enemy ships and radars. This capability would be particularly useful in the event of a conflict. In addition, the UAV is expected to help Taiwan and its partners monitor Chinese military activities in the region in real time.
Integrating Taiwan into the US military and its allies is a sensitive issue. “Data sharing between Japan and Taiwan, between Taiwan and the Philippines, between the US and all of them, is very important, but it is also one of the biggest taboos because China would see it as an escalation,” said a senior US military official.
The Pentagon and Taiwan declined to comment while Japan did not respond to requests from the Financial Times .
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on June 8 called on the US and Japan to stop creating military tensions and destabilizing the Taiwan Strait. He stated that Beijing firmly opposes military contacts between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic relations with China.
Relations between China and the US have recently become more tense after US and Canadian warships passed through the Taiwan Strait. The Pentagon accused the Chinese warship of moving across the US ship, causing danger, while Beijing said that "the measures taken by the Chinese military were completely reasonable, legal, professional and safe".
In a related development, Taiwan's Defense Ministry announced on June 8 that it had detected 37 Chinese military aircraft flying into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, according to CNA. Taiwan deployed missile defense systems, fighter jets, and patrol ships to monitor the activities of the Chinese aircraft.
Source link
Comment (0)