Kratos has confirmed it’s working along with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on a by-product of its jet-powered MQM-178 Firejet target drone referred to as the Chien Feng IV. The Chien Feng IV is claimed to be eyed primarily as a lower-cost, longer-range kamikaze drone, and NCSIST is reportedly wanting towards potential export alternatives together with gross sales to the Taiwanese navy.
United Daily News in Taiwan was the first to report on the Chien Feng IV this previous weekend, citing feedback from NCSIST. A government-owned group, NCSIST conducts superior navy analysis and improvement and check and analysis work. The drone is ready to make its official public debut on the biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition subsequent month.
“We can confirm the exciting partnership” with NCSIST and that the Chien Feng IV “is a derivative of the MQM-178 system,” Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, instructed TWZ. “Development started early this year and is progressing rapidly.”
“We expect that by the end of this year, we will receive a sole-source contract for the Kratos Airwolf tactical jet drone, which could lead to a production contract in late 2026,” Kratos’ CEO Eric DeMarco had additionally stated throughout a quarterly earnings name earlier this month.
Airwolf, additionally known as Tactical Firejet, is predicated on the MQM-178 design, as nicely.
DeMarco’s “comment was tied to two opportunities, this partnership [with NCSIST] being one of them,” Fendley additionally instructed TWZ.
Fendley declined to supply extra particulars about Chien Feng IV, saying that extra info would come on the exhibition in Taipei in September. United Daily News‘ report additionally provided few specifics, however stated that NCSIST had described the drone as having the ability to function a “low-cost cruise missile.”
The Firejet/Airwolf household provides a logical beginning place for a Chien Feng IV drone that skirts the increasingly blurry line between longer-range kamikaze drones and cruise missiles, in addition to decoys.
Kratos says the ten.8-foot-long MQM-178 with its wingspan of 6.5 toes can carry round 70 and a half kilos of payload internally, in addition to almost 35 kilos extra beneath every wing and an extra 20 kilos in pods on every wingtip. It can rise up to speeds of 0.69 Mach, in addition to fly at altitudes anyplace between 20 and 35,000 toes. Designed as a goal to fireplace air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles at throughout coaching and testing occasions, Firejet can pull turns all the way down to -2 and as much as +9 Gs. The drone is launched by way of catapult, however no point out is product of it being designed to be recoverable.
Airwolf has the identical bodily dimensions and basic mode of operation as Firejet, however has a reworked inner association to raised permit it to be configured for tactical mission units, together with appearing as a ‘loyal wingman’ for crewed plane. Kratos says it’s recoverable by way of parachute and has a most vary of 400 nautical miles and a most endurance of 1.3 hours.
Kratos’ web site additionally describes Airwolf as being “low signature,” however doesn’t supply specifics. On high of its comparatively small dimension to start with, the drone’s carbon fiber composite building would assist its radar cross-section. Route planning involving a low-level flight profile masked by terrain options might additionally assist it evade detection.
With all of this in thoughts, the MQM-178-derived Chien Feng IV might presumably be configured for different roles past one-way assault, together with digital warfare and communications sign relay.
Even from what little is understood in regards to the Chien Feng IV now, it displays broader developments globally. Just up to now few years, the ongoing war in Ukraine, assaults by Houthi militants in Yemen on ships in and across the Red Sea and targets in Israel, and fighting between Iran and Israel have underscored the worth of and threats posed by long-range kamikaze drones. Jet-powered types have already begun to emerge, providing additional boosts in functionality and presenting new challenges for defenders, as TWZ has highlighted in the past. Armed forces world wide, including the U.S. military, are taking discover. Something of an industrial arms race to create new modular, comparatively low cost, and small uncrewed aerial programs has now emerged, particularly in the United States.
United Daily News‘ report this past weekend said that NCSIST had stressed that there was no commitment yet from any branch of Taiwan’s armed forces to purchase Chien Feng IVs. At the identical time, the group stated that it could possibly be a beneficial companion to conventional cruise missiles in Taiwanese service, like the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E).
With assist from the U.S. authorities, Taiwan has been working to considerably increase its arsenal of one-way-attack drones, in addition to different uncrewed aerial and maritime systems, up to now few years. There has been a sure diploma of extra openness with regard to this cooperation from U.S. protection contractors not too long ago. Earlier this month, Anduril very publicly announced the opening of an workplace in Taiwan and expanded cooperation with NCSIST, all with a heavy deal with its ALTIUS line of drones, which will be configured as loitering munitions and for different roles. The U.S. authorities authorised the sale of nearly 300 ALTIUS 600M-V loitering munitions to Taiwan final yr.
For Taiwan, that is a part of a broader effort, which has been referred to in the past as “Hellscape,” that envisions the Taiwanese navy flooding the air and waters across the island with comparatively uncrewed platforms within the occasion of a navy invasion from the Chinese mainland.
Especially if it’s a comparatively low-cost design, Chien Feng IV, in addition to different longer-range kamikaze drones, might additionally supply a technique to prolong the Hellscape plan to assaults on targets on the opposite facet of the Taiwan Strait. As famous, Airwolf’s acknowledged most vary is 400 nautical miles. The Taiwan Strait, at its widest, is a few 97 nautical miles throughout. Massed Chien Feng IV assaults would additionally drive Chinese forces on the mainland to expend commensurate quantities of interceptors. Higher-flying jet-powered drones would, in flip, require higher-end interceptors to be employed, as nicely.
In addition, United Daily News‘ report stated that NCSIST had explicitly highlighted potential export alternatives for Chien Feng IV, which speaks to the rising international curiosity within the sorts of capabilities this drone might supply. Hurdles would exist for any direct exports from Taiwan, which occupies a sophisticated house in terms of overseas relations, however a partnership with a U.S. firm like Kratos might assist in that regard. In 2023, reviews emerged that the United States might purchase retired HAWK surface-to-air missile programs from Taiwan and then transfer them to Ukraine, as one other instance of an oblique workaround.
More particulars in regards to the Chien Feng IV are set to emerge subsequent month on the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. However, it’s already an necessary reflection of recent and increasing ties between Taiwan and the U.S. protection business, in addition to international developments in terms of the brand new, longer-range kamikaze drones.
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