According to a recent report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, China has deployed obsolete supersonic aircraft converted into attack drones at six air bases near the Taiwan Strait. Satellite images of these airfields, taken from "China Airpower Tracker" in February, show what appears to be lines of stubby swept-winged fighters, similar to the J-6 fighters first flown by the Chinese 'air force' in the 1960s. According to the report by the Arlington, Virginia based institute, these 'aircraft' have been identified in five bases in Fujian Province, and one base in Guangdong Province, since their conversion to drones.

J. Michael Dahm is a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute. He said that China's military (the People's Liberation Army, or PLA) has sent 200 or more drones, converted from obsolete fighters, to airfields in the Taiwan Strait.

Dahm, former U.S. Naval Intelligence officer, said that these jets-turned drones would be used to attack targets during the initial phase of an offensive on Taiwan. These drones would act more like cruise missiles rather than unmanned aerial vehicles that are autonomous or remotely controlled.

Dahm said, "They will attack Taiwan or U.S. targets in great numbers, effectively overpowering air defenses." The data was compiled from commercial satellite images and open-source intelligence.

China is the world's largest commercial drone manufacturer. China is also heavily investing in military drone technology as it builds up the?firepower needed to seize Taiwan by force, if necessary. Experts in air warfare say that the converted drones mentioned in the Mitchell Institute's report are part Beijing's growing arsenal of airpower weapons. These include bombers with standoff missiles as well as modern fighters, missiles such ballistic and cruise missiles. Beijing considers Taiwan to be its territory and has not renounced using force to control the island. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, claiming that only the people of Taiwan can determine their future. The?U.S. Intelligence community stated that its assessment was that China does not plan to invade Taiwan by 2027. This is in contrast to the Pentagon's report late last year on China's power, which stated that China "expects" to be able fight and win wars on Taiwan by 2027.

A senior Taiwanese official stated that the main purpose of these drones was to "exhaust Taiwan's air defence systems in the initial wave of an assault". The cost-effectiveness of using expensive missiles at a distance to stop China from "striking highly-valuable targets" will be a major issue to overcome to prevent China.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry referred to the 2022 report of its think tank Institute for National Defense and Security Research which described these drones "as a form of asymmetric war that cannot be overlooked."

The Taiwan Affairs Office and the Ministry of Defense in China did not respond to any questions for this article. The Pentagon did not respond to an inquiry for comment.

Peter Layton, an Australian retired air force group Captain and former Pentagon employee, who is a visiting fellow and retired Australian airforce group captain, believes that China would launch a large attack wave of strike aircraft and missiles on different trajectory, as well as fast and slow drones in a conflict with Taiwan.

He said that a variety of things would happen at once. It would be an air defence nightmare.

The drones are not among China's most advanced and dangerous UAVs but they will be expensive to fight. Layton said that the small, high-speed drones Ukraine uses in its war against Russia are ineffective for shooting them down. "Those J-6s will need an expensive, high-performance missile."

Drones have become a vital element in modern warfare, as the protracted conflict between Israel and the United States over Iran has shown. Some drones can be manufactured in large quantities, deployed in mass formations, and quickly replaced after battlefield losses. China is working on new UAVs including a stealthy attack?drone, which experts believe would be operated from an aircraft carrier. Security analysts and military attachés say China has already tested the use of drones for deception operations as part of possible rehearsals of an invasion of Taiwan. The twin-engined J-6 is a descendant of the Soviet Mig-19 fighter from 1950s. According to the U.S. Air Force Air University, this jet and other Soviet aircraft formed the core fighter fleet of China until the mid-1990s.

Dahm estimates that more than 500 aircraft have been converted into drones. The J-6W is the drone version of the J-6.

In September, the Chinese air force displayed one of these fighters converted at the Changchun Air Show located in northeast China. According to a photo from the airshow published by China's Ministry of National Defense, the drone was identified as a J-6 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on an information board next to it. The information board stated that "this aircraft is a modified version of the J-6 Fighter Jet."

According to the board, the cannons and other equipment of the fighter were removed. It was then fitted with an automatic navigation system and terrain matching technology. The UAV successfully flew for the first time in 1995. It could be used to train fighter pilots, antiaircraft guns, surfacetoair missiles and radar operators or as an attack aircraft.

Dahm stated that the Chinese airfields nearest to Taiwan Strait, where J-6 drones were based, would be vulnerable to a counter-attack by Taiwan and its allies during a conflict.

He said that the idea was to launch all drones within the first few hours of an operation by the PLA.

(source: Reuters)