WWIII
U.S. prepares for potential drone war over Taiwan
Posted December. 15, 2025
The United States is overhauling its equipment and tactics in preparation for a potential drone war that could emerge from a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 12 local time. The initiative reflects a broader shift within the U.S. military toward readiness for real combat scenarios, as the war in Ukraine has underscored the growing strategic importance of drone warfare.
According to the Journal, the U.S. military recently released footage of high-intensity combat training exercises conducted in Hawaii that incorporated extensive drone operations. In the video, U.S. forces carried out drills in which reconnaissance drones were deployed to assess the size and positioning of simulated enemy units, followed by strike drones executing surprise attacks on enemy hideouts. During the two-week training exercise, the military also unveiled newly developed drone systems. The footage included scenes showing low-cost kamikaze drones being manufactured within hours using three-dimensional, or 3D, printers.
“The drone system is dominating the nature of combat on the Ukraine-Russia battlefield,” the Journal reported. It added that the United States, which has long relied on costly and highly sophisticated combat platforms, is entering a new phase of military planning focused on highly mobile, relatively inexpensive and expendable systems.
The expectation that a potential military confrontation between the United States and China would be concentrated along the first island chain linking Japan and Taiwan has also shaped the overhaul. In such a conflict, prolonged attritional warfare could spread across jungle-covered islands in the Pacific. While U.S. forces have accumulated extensive combat experience in desert and mountainous environments such as Iraq and Afghanistan, warfare in the Pacific would pose fundamentally different operational challenges. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has also launched a broad initiative to revive the shipbuilding industry as part of its effort to strengthen U.S. naval power.
One of the two brigades of the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division that participated in the training plans to hold new exercises next year in the Philippines, a key part of the first island chain. The move signals an intent to test newly developed drone capabilities in realistic, combat-oriented training environments closer to China.
Seong-Mo Kim mo@donga.com
No comments:
Post a Comment