Associated Press – China ’s air force said it deployed
an armed drone to multinational anti-terrorism drills on Tuesday, underscoring
the country’s rapid progress in developing unmanned aerial vehicles.
The drone, which wasn’t identified by type, carried out a
successful mission in which it destroyed a mock enemy command vehicle with a
missile, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke
as saying.
Shen said the drone’s ability to monitor, identify and
destroy objects below in real time makes it an important tool in fighting
terrorists. China
says radicals fighting Chinese rule in the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang
have used illicit border crossings and desert encampments that could be
monitored from above.
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 the CIA.
Analysts say that although China
still trails the U.S. and Israel , the
industry leaders, its technology is maturing rapidly and is on the cusp of
widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes.
Tuesday’s mock attack was part of this week’s “Peace
Mission-2014″ drills involving more than 7,000 personnel from China , Russia ,
Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan . In all, 70 aircraft of
19 different types, both manned and unmanned, are taking part in the exercises,
being held at Zhurihe, China’s largest and most modern training base, located
in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
While Beijing officially
eschews military alliances, it has conducted a series of drills with Russian
forces, sometimes under the auspices of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, or SCO, a Central Asian grouping that is dominated by China and Russia
and aims to challenge U.S.
influence in Asia .
Several SCO nations border on Afghanistan
and Pakistan
and face threats from radical Islamic insurgents, providing the impetus for
joint anti-terrorism training.
http://www.angmalaya.net/world/2014/08/26/3757-china-deploys-armed-drone-to-multinational-drills
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.