From: HuffPost
COMMENT - Who do you suppose is supplying their software? Nah, surely GHS would not do THAT. Would they?
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
05/03/13 04:03 AM ET EDT
BEIJING -- Determined to kill or capture a murderous Mekong River
drug lord, China's security forces considered a tactic they'd never
tried before: calling a drone strike on his remote hideaway deep in the
hills of Myanmar.
The attack didn't happen – the man was later captured and brought to
China for trial – but the fact that authorities were considering such an
option cast new light on China's unmanned aerial vehicle program, which
has been quietly percolating for years and now appears to be moving
into overdrive.
Chinese aerospace firms have developed dozens of drones,
known also as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. Many have appeared at
air shows and military parades, including some that bear an uncanny
resemblance to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used with
deadly effect by the U.S. Air Force and CIA. Analysts say that although
China still trails the U.S. and Israel, the industry leaders, its
technology is maturing rapidly and on the cusp of widespread use for
surveillance and combat strikes.
"My sense is that China is moving into large-scale deployments of
UAVs," said Ian Easton, co-author of a recent report on Chinese drones
for the Project 2049 Institute security think tank.
China's move into large-scale drone deployment displays its
military's growing sophistication and could challenge U.S. military
dominance in the Asia-Pacific. It also could elevate the threat to
neighbors with territorial disputes with Beijing, including Vietnam,
Japan, India and the Philippines. China says its drones are capable of
carrying bombs and missiles as well as conducting reconnaissance,
potentially turning them into offensive weapons in a border conflict.
China's increased use of drones also adds to concerns about the lack
of internationally recognized standards for drone attacks. The United
States has widely employed drones as a means of eliminating terror
suspects in Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.
"China is following the precedent set by the U.S. The thinking is
that, `If the U.S. can do it, so can we. They're a big country with
security interests and so are we'," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow
at the arms transfers program at the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute in Sweden, or SIPRI.
"The justification for an attack would be that Beijing too has a
responsibility for the safety of its citizens. There needs to be
agreement on what the limits are," he said.
Though China claims its military posture is entirely defensive, its
navy and civilian maritime services have engaged in repeated standoffs
with ships from other nations in the South China and East China seas.
India, meanwhile, says Chinese troops have set up camp almost 20
kilometers (12 miles) into Indian-claimed territory.
It
isn't yet known exactly what China's latest drones are capable of,
because, like most Chinese equipment, they remain untested in battle.
The military and associated aerospace firms have offered little
information, although in an interview last month with the official
Xinhua News Agency, Yang Baikui, chief designer at plane maker COSIC,
said Chinese drones were closing the gap but still needed to progress in
half a dozen major areas, from airframe design to digital linkups. MORE
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