The United States plans to deploy thousands of drones over the next two years to counter China’s advantage in manpower and military equipment, a senior defense official said Monday.
Beijing’s main asset is “mass effect. More ships. More missiles. More people,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told a conference in Washington. “We will counter the Chinese military on the ground of quantity, but ours will be harder to predict, harder to hit, harder to beat,” the Pentagon’s number two said.
The US military wants to deploy thousands of drones, “in multiple areas”, in the next 18 to 24 months, added Kathleen Hicks. The United States considers China a major challenge and seeks to avoid any conflict with it, particularly around Taiwan.
The United States, which diplomatically recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979, remains Taiwan’s strongest ally and main arms supplier. Beijing considers the island to be part of its territory and does not rule out taking it back one day, by force if necessary.