The PLA turned a Soviet-era fighter jet into a drone that could be used to swarm Taiwan

The People’s Liberation Army has revealed a combat drone – converted from a retired 1950s J-6 fighter jet – that could be used for a swarm attack in a potential conflict across the Taiwan Strait. The drone was unveiled at the Changchun air show in northeast China, which opened on Friday and finishes on Tuesday. Its appearance has confirmed years of speculation that the PLA was trying to repurpose its legacy fleet of J-6s. China built thousands of the warplanes – based on the Soviet MiG-19 – from the 1960s to the 1980s. A second-generation supersonic fighter jet, the J-6 has a maximum speed of Mach 1.3 – far slower than China’s most advanced fighter, the J-20, which can exceed Mach 2.0. The J-6 has a combat range of 700km (435 miles) and can carry up to 250kg (550lbs) of munitions. According to information accompanying the drone exhibit at the air show, the first unmanned J-6 took flight as early as 1995. Much of the old J-6 airframe has been incorporated into the drone design, making it fast and cheap to produce – and expendable. The modification involved removing anything to do with crew, such as cannons, auxiliary tanks and ejection seats. The aircraft were then retrofitted with an autonomous flight control system, auto piloting, and terrain-matching navigation. Extra weapon stations were added to increase capacity. “It can serve as a strike aircraft or as a target drone in training,” the exhibit description reads. While the Soviet-era aircraft is outdated, the sheer number of J-6 drones would make them cost-effective for attrition warfare. The PLA is estimated to have around 3,000 of the fighter jets at its disposal. In a conflict – especially against Taiwan, which would be well within the range of the J-6 – these drones could be used for saturation attacks. As a full-size fighter jet with minimal avionics because of its age, the J-6 drone also has the advantage of being less vulnerable to anti-drone systems such as electronic jammers or directed-energy weapons. That means the drones could be used as decoys to prompt conventional air defence radars to emit, revealing their location and frequency. That would then allow the PLA’s electronic warfare systems or anti-radiation missiles to locate, jam or destroy the radar sites. A large number of J-6 drones could potentially overwhelm Taiwan’s air defences and exhaust its limited stockpile of missiles, which would clear the way for an attack by the PLA’s more powerful fighter jets and missiles. The drone has raised concern in Taiwan. “I’m not afraid of the Dongfeng [the PLA’s ballistic missiles] – I’m worried about this drone,” retired Taiwanese lieutenant-general Shuai Hua-ming said on a television show aired on Taiwan’s CTiTV news channel last week. “Hundreds or even thousands of these aircraft could come in a swarm – that would be more terrifying than missiles,” Shuai said, adding that imported US Patriot missile interceptors were expensive. If not intercepted, the J-6 drones could be used to bomb high-value ground targets or even strike them, at supersonic speed, in suicide attacks. Song Zhongping, a military commentator and former PLA instructor, said the drones could serve as the vanguard in a conflict with Taiwan, carrying out large-scale attacks and causing the island to use costly air defence missiles such as the Patriot and the Taiwanese TC-2. “Taiwan is an area with one of the highest concentrations of air defence missiles,” Song said. “In the event of a conflict, the safety of manned aircraft cannot be fully guaranteed, and the cost of losing them would be high. Unmanned aircraft are needed to suppress and deplete the air defence capabilities.” Song said repurposing the J-6 would have been relatively inexpensive. “The simplest and most cost-effective conversion would be to use it as a kamikaze drone,” he added. “If used as a reconnaissance drone, the conversion cost would be much higher.” Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the self-governed island. Tensions have been rising since Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took power in 2016, and the PLA has stepped up pressure on the island. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but oppose any attempt to change the status quo by force.

The PLA turned a Soviet-era fighter jet into a drone that could be used to swarm Taiwan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Repurposed J-6, which was revealed at the Changchun air show, could be used in a large-scale attack on the island, analyst says

Repurposed J-6, which was revealed at the Changchun air show, could be used in a large-scale attack on the island, analyst says