Taiwan’s Using Drones to Spy on China
Taiwan develops ‘smart’ munitions against China invasion
Source: SCMP
Taiwan’s air force will be armed with “smart” munitions be- fore the year’s end that could be used against any Chinese invasion by striking airfields and harbours on the mainland, media reported Saturday.
The new weaponry, developed under a project codenamed “Wan Chien” (Ten Thousands Swords), is scheduled to be carried by dozens of Taiwan’s fighter jets.
The island nation began developing its own smart weapons after the United States – Taiwan’s main arms supplier – re- fused to sell them guided bombs.
Taiwan’s air force plans to upgrade 60 fighters before the year’s end, with the last six being refitted and scheduled to be completed in December, the Taipei-based China Times re- ported.
The defence ministry declined to comment on the report.
The new weaponry will enable Taiwanese fighter jets to hit Chinese targets from a distance and reduce the risk of having to fly over mainland territory, analysts say.
The weapons, an equivalent of the US-developed joint direct attack munition (JDAM) that converts unguided bombs into all-weather “smart” munitions, is designed to target har- bours, missile and radar bases, as well as troop build-ups prior to any invasion of the island, they say.
Each kit carries more than 100 warheads capable of blowing dozens of small craters in airport runways, making them im- possible to use, they say.
The China Times said the refusal to sell JDAMs to Taiwan by United States had prompted the island to develop the offen- sive weapon on its own.
Ties between Taiwan and its giant neighbour have improved significantly since the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang govern- ment took power in Taipei in 2008. Ma was re-elected in Jan- uary last year.
But China still considers the island part of its territory await- ing reunification, by force if necessary, prompting Taipei to seek more advanced defence weaponry mainly from the United States.
Taiwanese experts estimate the People’s Liberation Army currently has more than 1,600 missiles aimed at the island.
More on Taiwan Special Forces
Intelligence: Taiwan Tops China In The Worst Possible Way
December 12, 2013: When pressed, Taiwan will admit that their new early warning radar atop Leshan Mountain in central Taiwan is probably the most powerful such phased array radar in the world. American experts hint that while the Leshan radar may not be the most powerful, it is among the most powerful.
Taiwan put the Leshan radar into service in January 2013, and have been quite pleased with its performance. Not only can the radar spot missile launches up to 5,000 kilometers away, it can give Taiwan about six minutes warning of a Chinese missile attack. That’s enough to alert the missile defenses and Taiwanese defense installations. China has over 1,400 ballistic missiles within range of Taiwan, and any invasion attempt is expected to start with the launching of many, if not most, of these missiles.
Early warning of a Chinese missile attack is not what the Leshan radar is used for most of the time. No, much to the distress of China the Leshan radar can also keep track of most aerial activity over China. That 5,000 kilometers range of the Leshan radar pretty much covers most of China, not to mention North Korea and, well, you get the picture. The radar covers areas closer (than 2,000 kilometers) in even more detail, and this provides excellent coverage of most key Chinese military bases and weapons production facilities.
The Leshan radar has been under construction for a decade and costs $1.4 billion. The radar operates on a mountain over 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) high. Much of the equipment and building materials had to be flown in, and the climate up there is a lot colder than most Taiwanese are accustomed to. Putting the radar at such a high altitude gave it a clear view of eastern China. Despite Chinese objections, the United States provided much of the needed radar design data and some of the equipment.
The Leshan radar is based on the U.S. Air Force Pave Paws early warning radar. The U.S. has five of these radars in service as part of the American BMEWS (ballistic missile early warning system), a half century old system using radars and satellites to monitor the planet for ballistic missile launches (specifically ICBMs, but any large missile launch is detected). Early on, BMEWS consisted of long range radars (like Pave Paws) that could spot warheads coming over the North Pole (from Russia). When SSBNs (ballistic missile carrying nuclear subs) entered the Russian arsenal in the 1970s, BMEWS was augmented by DSP (Defense Support Program) satellites equipped with heat sensors that could detect the enormous amount of heat generated by a ballistic missile launch (or any large explosion, like an above- ground nuclear weapons test). The BMEWS satellites covered the entire planet, while the radars only covered most of the northern hemisphere.
Taiwan was allowed to get the Pave Paws technology as an alternative to the four Aegis destroyers the Taiwanese wanted to buy. The U.S. agreed to sell Pave Paws in part because the U.S. Air Force found that the existing Taiwan air defense network can be modified to integrate the new Pave Paws technology.
Pave Paws is an ultra-high-frequency system with a phased array radar capable of covering a vertical arc from 3 degrees to 85 degrees out to over 5,000 kilometers. It was designed to track ballistic missiles and has a limited capability to track satellites. Apparently having a Pave Paws type radar so close to China gives the user the ability to constantly monitor Chinese air space. In return for access to all this data, the U.S. will keep the Leshan radar up to date and provide Taiwan with additional intel on China the U.S. has collected using other means. Thus, most of the time the Leshan radar is an intelligence asset with a secondary job of providing early warning.
------------------------------------------------------
Taiwan and Japan’s Collective Self-Defense
Ankit and I were joined on the podcast this week by Clint, our Tokyo- based editor and residential Japan expert, who runs the new Tokyo Report blog. Not surprisingly, the topic of discussion or the podcast was Japan’s reinterpretation of Article 9 of its constitution to allow for collective self-defense.
As is probably clear from listening to the podcast, there were slight disagreements on a couple of issues between Ankit and Clint on the one hand, and myself on the other. First, I felt that the purpose of the reinterpretation was to finally provide Japan with the inherent right to collective self-defense as enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. Clint assured me that the reinterpretation was aimed at being much more limited.
Having the chance to read up more on the subject, I am unsurprised to learn that Clint was correct (after all, he is our resident Japan expert). First, unlike Article 51 which provides nations with the inherent right to come to the aid of allies even if the states themselves are not directly threatened, the reinterpretation of Article 9 only allows Tokyo to come to the defense of allies if it can be tied directly to its own defense. As the vice president of New Komeito, LDP’s coalition partner, Kazuo Kitagawa explained: “Collective self- defense under international law means defending other countries without considering if that would infringe on one’s own security, but we see this as part of the self-defense of Japan.”
Second, because of pressure from New Komeito, the revision doesn’t explicitly give Japan the right to collective self-defense, but rather says that some actions that are permitted could be construed as collective self-defense.
The other point of disagreement was over where Japan would apply it. We all agreed that it would be applied to its alliance with the U.S., and possibly in certain actions related to the Korean Peninsula, such as shooting down North Korean ballistic missiles headed for the United States (South Korea once again reiterated after this revision that it opposes Japan intervening on the Korean Peninsula without its explicit approval).
I argued, however, that one of the unsaid aims of the revision was to give Japan the ability to intervene on behalf of Taiwan if the People’s Republic of China ever sought to seize the island by force. Clint and Ankit were highly skeptical that this was the case.
After reading up more on the new revision, I still believe that this is the case. For example, the Japan Times explains that under the reinterpretation, three conditions must be met to allow Japan to come to the aid of a partner nation:
“The attack on that country poses a clear danger to Japan’s survival or could fundamentally overturn Japanese citizens’ constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“There is no other way of repelling the attack and protecting Japan and its citizens.
“The use of force is limited to the minimum necessary.”
Previously it reported that the final draft of the Cabinet document said Japan could intervene militarily “when an attack on a country that ‘has close relations’ with Japan ‘poses a clear danger of threatening our country’s existence and fundamentally overthrowing our people’s lives, freedom and right to pursue happiness.’”
This seems to apply to Taiwan. As The Diplomat has noted, no country in Northeast Asia has as close and friendly of relations with Japan as Taipei. Secondly, China conquering and occupying Taiwan would present about as clear a danger to Japan’s survival as any event short of an attack on Japan itself. The Senkaku Islands are roughly half the distance from Taiwan as they are from mainland China, which would allow Beijing to bring far more force to bear in an attack on them. It would also allow Beijing to approach the islands from roughly two different directions. Furthermore, Taiwan’s strategic location would greatly enhance China’s ability to interdict maritime shipping to and from Japan.
Thus, China’s occupation would be a threat to both Japan’s territorial integrity as well as the “lives, freedom and right to pursue happiness” of the Japanese people. If the PLA was in the midst of an invasion of Taiwan, it’s hard to imagine any other way of repelling the attack then through intervening in support of Taiwan. In any case, one of the examples openly being espoused as an example of when Japan would exercise collective self-defense is when a U.S. ship came under attack on the high seas. This would almost certainly happen if America intervened in support of Taiwan, which would allow Japan to join the fight.
Thus, I think at the very least Japan’s right of collective self-defense is meant to apply to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, even if this is left unsaid for obvious diplomatic reasons.