China Uses More UCAVs Against Taiwan
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles Stretch Their Wings
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4 March 2023
China Uses More UCAVs Against Taiwan
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles Stretch Their Wings
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI – China has been using an increasing number of UCAVs in Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and darting back-and-forth across the Median Line of the Taiwan Strait.
The below UCAVs include:
x1 BZK-005 UAV Reconnaissance
x1 CH-4 UCAV Reconnaissance/Strike
x1 TB-001 UCAV Reconnaissance/Strike
BELOW: CLICK TO ENLARGE:
Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) 4 March 2023 Press Release:
24 PLA aircraft and 4 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m. (UTC+8) 4 March 2023. 12 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities.
Note once again the hook around southeast Taiwan; indicative of China’s spider web approach to closing the egress and exit points via airpower supremacy. This is Stage Three of airpower and, just like cancer, Stage Four is the death rattle.
China’s massive UAV program has exhibited a plethora of platforms at the Airshow China (Zhuhai) over the past decade. It has been so overwhelming that attempting to catch lightening in a bottle resulted in four books on these systems:
120-page Chinese Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (2016)
180-page More Chinese Fixed Wing UAVs (2019)
90-page Chinese Rotary/VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (2016)
165-page More Chinese Rotary and VTOL UAVs (2019)
There is no mention in any of them of the BZK-005 UAV and TB-001 UCAV.
However, the CH-4 UCAV Reconnaissance/Strike is a well-known platform and covered in the 2016 and 2019 fixed wing books as the CH-4/CH-4A/4B Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) UAV by Poly Defense.
For Taiwan UAVs, consult the 175-page Taiwan Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (2020).
Below are pages from the 2019 fixed wing UAV book, as well as some of the Chinese air-launched weapons for both fixed wing fighter aircraft and UCAV/UAVs: 150-page Chinese Air-Launched Weapons and Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting Pods (2019). The weapons section is only available for paid subscribers, but includes the TL-1/TL-2, YJ-9E, FT-9, LS-6, NAV-SDB, and NAV-LGB.
Below are some of the weapons in the 2019 book:
TL-1 Air-to-Ground Missile:
ABOVE: TL-2 Air-to-Ground Missile. ALIT/China Aerospace Long-March International. 2017 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA/MALAYSIA). (1/1).
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