China said recently that it will deploy unmanned aircraft to monitor the Diaoyu Islands and other disputed islets as it postponed a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of Sino-Japan diplomatic ties (see article: Drones to spy on disputed islands http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=3&art_id=126718&sid=37730078&con_type=1&d_str=20120924&fc=10).
Xinhua news agency said the postponement of the 40th anniversary ceremony was due to the dispute over the Diaoyus (see also video: China Calls Japan’s Diaoyu Island Purchase “Illegal”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUekEvo6xSQ ).
The Senkaku Islands,also known as the Diaoyu Islands in Mainland China or Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan or the Pinnacle Islands, are a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan in the East China Sea.
The islands are strategically located roughly due east of Mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a navigator, or pilot (in military UAVs called a Combat Systems Officer on UCAVs) on the ground or in another vehicle.
In this case the unmanned aircraft will be able to compensate for China’s limitations of satellite and aerial monitoring. Images generated by unmanned aircraft are considered in many ways, more accurate than those from satellites because they often fly continuously in excess of 16 hours.
The unmanned aircraft has “already collected data from the area around Jiangsu, a province just above Shanghai”, according to Hong Kong Standard report.
China has been dramatically increasing the use of drones to strengthen the nation’s marine surveillance capabilities (see report: China to promote drones for marine surveillance http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/23/c_123750476.htm).
This trend is expected to continue in the future.
The Pentagon refused comment on this story.