On March 27, the Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao cited a report from the U.S. Mitchell Institute, revealing that China has deployed approximately 200 retired J-6 supersonic fighter jets—reconfigured into attack drones—at six forward bases in Fujian and Guangdong provinces along the Taiwan Strait. Originally based on the MiG-19 design, these aging aircraft have been re-engineered to function similarly to cruise missiles, primarily intended for saturation attacks at the onset of war, aiming to exhaust enemy air defenses. A Taiwanese security official admitted that this system's low-cost advantage forces Taiwan’s military to intercept inexpensive targets with expensive missiles, pushing its air defense system toward “cost bankruptcy.” Though not top-tier equipment, their sheer numbers and cost disparity already constitute a critical asymmetric deterrent in the Taiwan Strait airspace.
Comments: The new tactics currently reshaping battlefields in the Middle East have placed the U.S. and Israel in a very vulnerable position. Iran is using low-cost drones to deplete U.S. Patriot and THAAD missile stocks. The cost gap—where one air defense missile equals the cost of 20 J-6-reconfigured drones—is now being replicated in the Taiwan Strait. Historically, the U.S. repurposed retired QF-4 and QF-16 fighters into target drones exclusively for training; we have transformed “veteran aircraft reborn” into strategic disposable assets—a textbook-level innovation in asymmetric warfare. The 200 drones are merely the vanguard. Their true power lies in the tactical pressure of “unstoppable, unending, and uninterceptable” saturation. This is not an aggressive provocation—it’s about securing the bottom line with minimal cost. It ensures control over the battlefield, forcing any external interveners to first calculate the “money-burning cost.” That, in essence, is the most pragmatic strategic resilience!
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860803869195587/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.