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Liu Zhen

Zhao Ziwen

America’s increasing use of MQ-9 drones near China poses a challenge to Beijing and makes it more urgent for the People’s Liberation Army to improve counter-reconnaissance, according to military experts.
The MQ-9 Reaper can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions.
It has been used for numerous high-profile operations, including the 2020 assassination of Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani. And it has been deployed as part of the US military’s surveillance network in the Indo-Pacific.
For China, the drone’s biggest threat is its high maximum altitude of up to 15,240 metres (50,000 feet), its long endurance and stealth capabilities, according to an analysis by Chinese military tech magazine Ordnance Industry Science Technology.
“This means the US military can deploy MQ-9s far from mainland China and gradually penetrate Chinese airspace or operate near its periphery to conduct reconnaissance and target designation missions,” the magazine said.




In January, a variant of the Reaper – the MQ-9B SeaGuardian – was equipped with a system to dispense sonobuoys that doubles the number it can carry, according to its manufacturer, General Atomics. The sonar devices are dropped from aircraft or ships and used to track submarines.
Yue Gang, a retired senior PLA colonel, said that compared to crewed anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the drone provided cheap and persistent over-the-horizon detection of underwater targets.
He said it also had the combat advantage of being able to immediately destroy a target upon detection, unlike drones without strike capabilities or manned reconnaissance aircraft.
The US Marine Corps has announced that six MQ-9s have been stationed “indefinitely” at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan since September. That is in addition to eight of the drones that have been located there since late 2023, operated by the US Air Force.
From Okinawa the drones can be used to keep the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait under constant watch.
Another Reaper squadron has been in place at the Kunsan Air Base in South Korea since September – the first in the Korean peninsula which the US Air Force can use to monitor Chinese and North Korean activities in the Yellow Sea.
And in November, the US Marine Corps deployed an MQ-9 squadron at the Basa Air Base in the Philippines to boost surveillance in the South China Sea.
The US is also equipping its allies and partners with an increasing number of MQ-9s.
Japan aims to double the number of MQ-9Bs used by its coastguard to 10 in the next five years, according to its budget for 2026 announced in January. The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force will meanwhile buy 23 MQ-9B SeaGuardians by 2032.
Taiwan ordered four MQ-9Bs in 2020. The first two are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of this year, though their armaments will reportedly be removed to avoid further riling Beijing.
India also acquired two MQ-9Bs after a deadly border clash with China in 2020. It added to this in 2024 with an order for 31 of the drones worth some US$3.5 billion, which are expected to be delivered between 2029 and 2030.
Some of the MQ-9 technology has meanwhile been offered to South Korea and Australia to build similar high-performance drones.
The Chinese military magazine said that was so they could “establish a fully integrated intelligence-sharing architecture along the first island chain, enabling real-time battlefield data exchange during wartime”.
It said the MQ-9’s capabilities in areas such as intelligence support, communication and satellite links, and its interoperability between the US and allies, had been tested and proven in joint military exercises.

Former PLA instructor Song Zhongping noted that the MQ-9s operated by other countries would rely on US data links.
He said as more nations and territories around the South and East China seas acquired the drones they would form a network of “collective intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” targeting China.
“The more widely this system is deployed, the greater the threat it poses to China’s national security,” Song said.
He Xianqing, an associate research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the deployment of the drones was in line with the US push to boost intelligence cooperation among regional allies.
“The drone’s primary role is surveillance, with strikes conducted only when necessary,” he said.
While the MQ-9 is a challenge and a deterrent for China, analysts said the PLA had the capabilities – including with air-defence missiles or laser weapons – to knock out the drone if needed.
The MQ-9 is a propeller-driven drone with a maximum speed of 480km/h (300mph).
Since it entered service in 2007, the MQ-9 has frequently been reported shot down on battlefields ranging from Ukraine to Afghanistan. From 2023 to 2024, Houthi forces in Yemen reportedly downed more than 10 of them.
Yue, the retired senior colonel, said targeted electromagnetic and radar jamming could be used against MQ-9s but “the best way is to use similar reconnaissance and strike drones carrying air-to-air ammunition to expel it”.
China’s advanced unmanned platforms such as the Wing Loong-10 and Cai Hong-5 have comparable or higher performance to the MQ-9.
He from the South China Sea institute said the challenge would be for China to conduct effective counter-reconnaissance in peacetime while preventing “air encounters, interceptions or other air operations from escalating into larger conflicts, or even war”.


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Reapers can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions and an increasing number of US allies and partners are buying them


Reapers can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions and an increasing number of US allies and partners are buying them.


Why the growing network of American MQ-9 drones is a challenge for China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Reapers can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions and an increasing number of US allies and partners are buying them

Reapers can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions and an increasing number of US allies and partners are buying them