An MQ-9 SeaGuardian unmanned maritime surveillance system flies over the littoral combat ship USS Coronado in the Pacific Ocean, April 21, 2021. (Shannon Renfroe/U.S. Navy)
The Defense Department has denied a recent report that it’s planning to help Japan and Taiwan exchange real-time data from reconnaissance drones.
The Financial Times reported June 9 that the United States would tie four MQ-9 drones Taiwan plans to purchase into the same system the Pentagon shares with the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The report cited four unidentified people familiar with the project.
But representatives for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Japanese Ministry of Defense and Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense have denied the claim.
“The DOD is not currently planning to facilitate MQ-9 data sharing between Taiwan and Japan,” DOD spokesman Lt. Col. Martin Meiners told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada made a similar denial when asked at a June 9 news conference in Tokyo about sharing drone data.
“There is no fact that we are considering the plan you pointed out,” he said.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense tweeted June 8 that it has no knowledge of the plan.
Taiwan agreed to purchase four MQ-9B SeaGuardian surveillance drones from the U.S. for $555 million, with the first to be delivered in 2025, Taiwanese media reported in August.
The SeaGuardian is the naval version of General Atomics’ MQ-9A Reaper with a specialized focus on maritime surveillance and increased endurance, while sacrificing maximum speed, altitude and payload capacity.
Any sort of intelligence sharing with Taiwan is a good thing, especially after the U.S. and its allies subjected the Taiwanese miliary to more than 40 years of near-isolation, according to Grant Newsham, a senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.
Data-sharing would be a step toward a “common operating picture” important for military operations, he told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.
“The Japanese have had next to nothing to do with Taiwan on the military front,” Newsham said. “So, for this 'linkage' to happen would be unprecedented.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
