TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said China is preparing to deploy more than 500 retired fighter jets converted into drones near the Taiwan Strait to overwhelm Taiwan’s air defense systems through saturation attacks.
The council’s latest quarterly report, citing satellite imagery and open-source intelligence, said the Chinese military has converted retired J-6 fighter jets into J-6W attack drones and deployed them at six air bases near the Taiwan Strait, per Liberty Times. Five of the bases are in Fujian Province, while one is in Guangdong Province.
The report cited Mitchell Institute Senior Fellow J. Michael Dahm as saying that more than 200 drones have already been deployed. He said the drones are more akin to cruise missiles than remotely piloted aircraft and are intended for large-scale strikes against targets in Taiwan, the US, or allied countries.
Japanese satellite imagery reportedly shows J-6W drones stationed alongside J-16 fighter jets, which analysts say indicates preparations for high-intensity air combat operations, according to Liberty Times. The co-deployment suggests the drones are intended to support J-16 fighters in missions such as saturation strikes and decoy operations.
The report warned that in a high-intensity conflict, the drones could significantly stress Taiwan’s air defense network, interceptor missile inventories, and battlefield endurance. It also said the Chinese military is storing hundreds of aging aircraft at Baofeng Airfield in Henan Province as a reserve force that could be transferred to frontline bases if needed.
The deployment model creates a flexible logistics system combining forward-positioned assets with inland reserves. A limited number of aircraft are stationed near the Taiwan Strait, while larger reserve inventories remain deeper inland for reinforcement, Liberty Times reported.
Under the Cabinet's original NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.5 billion) defense special budget proposal, NT$335 billion had been earmarked for unmanned systems and countermeasures. The proposal included plans to procure 211,990 drones of various types and 1,320 suicide drone boats.
The proposal called for the purchase of integrated “soft-kill and hard-kill” drone countermeasures, as well as 635 portable anti-drone systems. However, all related funding was removed by the KMT and TPP in their version of the special defense budget, which was pared down to NT$780 billion.
