For Smuggled Drones, China Wouldn't Be as Soft a Target as Russia.
Ukraine did it. Israel did it. Could Taiwan do it?
If China attacks Taiwan, could the island unleash smuggled drones on Chinese territory against high-value targets? Maybe, but China has long been aware of the potential of small, cheap drones, so it’s likely to be on guard. Also, China wouldn’t present Taiwan with a concentration of vulnerable, valuable equipment that Russia did for Ukraine on 1 June.
Taiwan may have much better way to use drones in the event of a Chinese attack.
The Ukrainian state security service achieved its remarkable attack by having long-haul trucks take loads of explosive first-person view (FPV) drones close to five Russian air bases—the farthest around 6,000 km from Ukraine.
Around 100 of the tiny FPVs, each weighing just a few kilograms, swarmed the bases. Relaying signals back to operators through Russia’s own cellular phone network, they homed in on Russian air force strategic bombers and other warplanes parked on the base’s tarmacs. When the smoke cleared, satellite imagery confirmed no fewer than 13 planes had been destroyed. The losses included 11 irreplaceable Tupolev Tu-22M and Tu-95 strategic bombers, about one-seventh of Russia’s active bombers.