China's Plan to invade Taiwan with Soviet jets

China’s plan to invade Taiwan with drones
Part of this video is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make sure to read the relevant information on BetterHelp website before using their service.

China is converting its old fighter jets into attack drones, possibly in view of an invasion of Taiwan. Specifically, these drones are numbered in the 600s, and are based at the PLA bases closer to Taiwan's capital, Taipei, and the island logistical hub, Kaohsiung, making these drones a tangible threat in case of an invasion of Taiwan. For these reasons studying these drones movement can become a useful tool in predicting a possible invasion. In this video we will analyse China's conversion of old Soviet era fighter jets into attack drones and we will try to answer two main questions. How could these drones be used in an invasion of Taiwan? How relevant is that for an invasion of the island?

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Also, many thanks to the Patreon community for voting this topic! And thanks to the Discord community for their help in gathering news and the interesting convo.

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Music: Premiumbeats
Softwares: Animations made with ♥️ with Blender, Editing in DaVinci Resolve, and map analysis and editing in QGIS.

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Check my previous videos:

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References and Bibliography:

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00:00 The J-6 issue
01:43 The J-6 numbers and characteristics
03:40 Sponsor: BetterHelp
05:00 The J-6 bases: the closest to Taiwan
06:16 How these attack drones could be used in an invasion of Taiwan
08:39 The Cicada strategy
10:51 How old planes turned drones were used in combat during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020
11:52 Conclusion

[Kamome]

Part of this video is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make sure to read the relevant information on BetterHelp website before using their service.

[Shadowgunner]

Honestly, this video for me is shocking and scary to think about. Turning old aircraft into drones can be very cost effective and little risk for china.

[therealspeedwagon]

Honestly, converting old jets into combat drones is a genius strategy. It’s very low cost, it’s effective in large numbers, and it all doesn’t cost a single human pilot. It would likely cost the Chinese government more to scrap the planes than to recommission them as drones. And with the sheer numbers of them they could easily overwhelm Taiwan’s modern defensive capabilities. All without costing a single Chinese pilot’s life. They could instead have as many boots on the ground as possible and leave the air support to their drones. The Shenyang J-6 is a formidable and capable fighter aircraft in its time. It will prove to be a formidable fighter in its new life as a UAV.

[andyhughes]

They could simply use these old jets to overwhelm Taiwan 's air defense systems.

While the air defense systems are busy tracking these drones, a few hypersonic missiles follow and it's bye-bye any targets!

[byakuya]

China can manufacture more than 10 million civilian drones a year, and it is easy to manufacture a large number of drones.

[sailortristan]

Better help is an awful company that has paid fines for selling users data

[chandrachurniyogi]

back in the mid 1980s the USAF initiated a similar program of converting old retired F-4 Phantom II fighter jets into target aircraft during live fire exercises . . . remember the experimental unmanned F-16 . . .

[jonerlucas]

I imagine that these "lesser" jets operated by the computer are connected to one more advanced jet such as the J-11 which has a real human pilot inside them who has total control of the of the computer operated jets. He could assign tasks for the AI-jets for example "shield host jet", "bomb this target" etc. This could make a fighter pilot's job way more efficient and he would act as a "commander of the swarm" or something like that. This would also boost up the efficiency and create more tactical possibilities for the pilot or the squadron mid-flight/-operation.

[watershed]

So basically they are smarter, bigger, faster and deadlier Shahed drones?

[jamesg]

Beautiful maps. They really help. Thanks for the video

[ebdhudnav]

Back when I was 18, ten years ago, I remember telling people that it would be great to use old jets to be used as drones. They have like 500 Fishbeds in storage. Also, they have the ability to make hundreds of drones from wood and some metal pipes. People called me crazy or immature because I got the idea from call of duty games...

[ayxan]

Similar tactics were applied in 2020 Karabakh war. Azerbaijan used old "Kukuruznik" farmer planes to find location of air defence systems

[salvatorequattrocchi]

It’s a creative, initially cheap idea but most importantly it’s deceptive for an adversary. Wasting a million dollar missile on this aged jet may not be viable.

[meeeptheconqueror]

Remember, there are still more types of drones that China can use other than these.

[SadParting]

Thats fucking smart. Turning mig19s into autonomous drones... Damn...

[adobejedrol]

Ace Combat plot isn't so ridicolous now

[Shadx]

I was thinking North Korea would consider doing this with all their old jets.

[AwardQueue]

This video is nicely produced, Thanks for presenting it.

[GingerWildcat]

Exceptional production of decent weapons vs. decent production of exceptional weapons is literally what won WWII.

[nathanielmoran]

You've outdone yourself again, Kamome. 🎉 Great video essay, awesome use of geographical overlays.