By Jia Feimao | 2025-09-09

China is busy working on drones that it says will transform warfare.

In the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, China may deploy not only missiles and fighter jets but also drones capable of creating a zone of electromagnetic calm, amidst an intense signal jamming environment. Chinese scientists say they have developed a new electronic warfare (EW) technology, dubbed the "storm eye," that can jam enemy communications and navigation systems while protecting friendly and allied signals from disruption.

The technology remains at the simulation stage, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported in August. It works by deploying two drones in tandem: one releases jamming signals to suppress enemy radar or communications, while the other transmits counter-signals to cancel the interference at specific locations.

Researchers claim this method can create a "zone of electromagnetic calm" comparable to the eye of a typhoon.

Chinese military researchers are drawing lessons from the war in Ukraine, the SCMP said in another story in August.

In the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow launched indiscriminate electronic jamming that disrupted not only the US Global Positioning System but also Europe's Galileo, China's Beidou and even Russia's own Glonass network.

To avoid "self-inflicted" damage, militaries must develop more precise directional jamming and counter-jamming techniques, Chinese scientists concluded.

Drones have their limits

While the new Chinese technology is theoretically feasible, relying on drones as the core platform presents challenges in war, Chih-Jung Kao, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Focus.

Drones are limited in size, which constrains both the antennas they can carry and their power output, he said.

"With only a limited set of antennas, how can drones possibly adapt to all wavelengths and frequencies?" Kao asked.

Power supply is another issue. The greater the jamming power and coverage needed, the more electricity the drones use, which in turn reduces flight endurance.

China's two-drone cooperative jamming model is not a groundbreaking concept and its effective coverage remains limited, said Kao.

"The so-called 'electromagnetic storm eye' is largely propaganda," he said.

Still, he cautioned that if China succeeds in developing the technology, it would be sufficient for application in a Taiwan Strait conflict.

US chooses piloted aircraft

Washington went down another path.

The US military has developed similar concepts and technologies but uses piloted aircraft to operate them, said Kao.

The US Air Force's new EA-37B EW aircraft can jam enemy systems while safeguarding friendly networks. It offers higher power and broader frequency coverage than drones do.

The EA-37B inherits about 70% of its systems from the older EC-130H EW aircraft but boasts greater viability than its predecessor has.

Its defining features include large antenna arrays mounted on both sides of the fuselage and an enlarged nose fitted with additional antennas. It is currently the US military's only long-range, full-spectrum EW platform, capable of disrupting enemy command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting.

US EW has long relied on large manned platforms, said Kao.

However, under the US Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, derivative unmanned systems will be developed to carry out EW missions. The EA-37B's electronic systems are designed to ensure that different platforms can operate together without interfering with each other.

US EW planes could help Taiwan

Taiwan should consider requesting the EA-37B from the United States, Kao said.

In the event of a conflict, Taiwan could then disrupt voice and data links between Chinese command centers in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou, as well as between airborne early-warning aircraft and their subordinate fighters, thereby undermining Beijing's command and control.

In recent years the US Air Force has steadily strengthened deployments and electronic reconnaissance operations in the Indo-Pacific, ensuring it will maintain an advantage in electromagnetic dominance if a regional conflict breaks out, said Kao.