MQ-9B UAV takes off for the first time in Taiwan, high-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities greatly improved

The MQ-9B drone took off in Taiwan for the first time. (Photo by reporter Yu Taro)

Of the four MQ-9B Sea Guardian UAVs purchased by our country from the United States, two arrived in Taiwan by sea in June and were transported by land to the Air Force Hualien Base. After being assembled, tested and inspected by the original factory and the Air Force in the past three months, they took off for the first time at around 8 o'clock yesterday morning. The high-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of the Chinese military will be greatly improved.

The Air Force compiled a budget of NT$21.7 billion from 111 to 2018 to purchase four MQ-9B UAVs manufactured by General Atomics Systems, including two ground control stations and other ancillary equipment, for the U.S. military. They will be delivered in batches this year and next year. Two of them took off for testing under high-alert measures yesterday morning and flew back safely about two hours later.

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Integrated reconnaissance and strike to counter the communist army

Officials said that the MQ-9B can integrate reconnaissance and strike, with a maximum payload of 1,700 kilograms. In addition to carrying various types of advanced sensors, it can also be mounted with laser-guided bombs. The US military has even completed the test of installing Sidewinder missiles, and the Air Force has also completed the mounting test of the MS-110 reconnaissance pod in the United States. Facing gray zone intrusion from communist ships and coast guard ships, Taiwan can exert all-weather monitoring functions to make up for the reconnaissance gap in the sea.

Gao Zhirong, a scholar at the National Defense Academy, wrote an analysis in June that the MQ-9B can be on duty for more than 24 to 30 hours in a single takeoff, and its maximum range exceeds 5,000 miles (approximately 9,260 kilometers). If it is 25,000 feet (approximately) Flying at an altitude of 7620 meters, the radius of radar and optical television lines can reach 194 miles (about 360 kilometers). When hovering at a fixed point, a single aircraft can grasp the dynamics of the Taiwan Strait and parts of the Bashi Strait and Miyako Strait.

An important waterway in the first island chain builds a detection wall

Gao Zhirong believes that after the MQ-9B is stationed, the national military's air intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities will further extend to the open sea, oceans and inland China, which is equivalent to establishing a vast "reconnaissance wall" in the important waterways of the first island chain. At the same time, coordinates can be shared through the Link-16 data link, shortening the "kill chain" response time.

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