Taiwan Develops Countermeasures Against Increasing Threat From Drones

TaiwanPlus News

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.

Transcript

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.

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