With more countries developing drones for military and surveillance use, Taiwan's military has already integrated anti-drone countermeasures into its arsenal. TaiwanPlus got an exclusive look at a company that has developed some of those systems.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The future of warfare is changing, and unmanned systems are leading that push.
00:09Countries all over the world are turning to drones, which are cheap and effective.
00:13But with militaries racing to develop this technology, the concern now is how to defend
00:18against these small and potentially deadly machines.
00:25To answer that, Taiwan Plus met with Drones Vision, a low-profile Taiwanese drone systems
00:30maker in the city of Jilong.
00:32They're known for making powerful drone jamming guns, and have even reportedly sold some unmanned
00:38systems to Ukraine.
00:41The company has agreed to give us an exclusive look at their operation, on the understanding
00:46that we conceal their identities and refer them only as representatives.
00:51Our company is a private drone consumer agency.
00:59In 2014, we found that more and more drones were jammed.
01:04At that time, there was no law to prohibit drones from flying on the air.
01:09We thought this would be a big problem.
01:13Drones Vision is a small company, but has experience working with other countries to
01:17make unmanned systems.
01:20They are one of the first in Taiwan to push the boundaries of drone manufacturing, using
01:243D printers to mass-produce components.
01:40But the company's real claim to fame started in 2014, when they developed the first series
01:45of systems designed specifically to take out drones, which they later sold to the military.
01:51Drone jammers like this one are a big part of Taiwan's anti-drone strategy.
01:55They're lightweight, portable, easy to use, and some systems like this one are already
02:00being used by the military in the outlying islands of Jinmen.
02:04With only a few kilometers separating Jinmen and China, Chinese commercial drones have
02:09on multiple occasions flown over Taiwanese military bases.
02:14These guns use radio waves to disrupt signals to and from the drone.
02:18The jammers are so powerful that a single shot can knock out Wi-Fi in the entire office.
02:24And while military drones still pose a substantial challenge, analysts earlier this year warned
02:30that the rise of drones wouldn't necessarily be led by the military.
02:34The commercial market is led by China.
02:37Commercial drones overwhelmingly dominate that market.
02:40We're now, though, in a different age, where we're likely to see military technological
02:45innovations not coming out of military labs and university labs, but actually coming out
02:50of the commercial sector.
02:52As more and more unmanned systems are used on the battlefield, from Gaza to Ukraine,
02:57Taiwan is looking to boost its anti-drone defenses, as the military plans to invest
03:02more in this technology.
03:04It's a demand that Drone's Vision says it's ready to supply.
03:11As the world prepares for the drone revolution, Taiwan's military will be the first country
03:19in the world to launch a drone.
03:22It will be the first country in the world to launch a drone.
03:26It will be the first country in the world to launch a drone.
03:30It will be the first country in the world to launch a drone.
03:33It will be the first country in the world to launch a drone.
03:37As the world prepares for the drone revolution, Taiwan is no exception.
03:42Although weapons like these don't fire a bullet, they will be key in disrupting future conflicts.
03:48Fu Hua-hong in Haimiaokan in Keelung for Taiwan Plus.
Recommended
Sakharov laureate González promises return to Venezuela 'by land, air or sea'
euronews (in English)
Closing the net: Finland and Sweden join forces to fight illegal salmon fishing
euronews (in English)