Latest news with #asymmetricWarfare
ABC News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Military planners must realise security no longer stops at the border, says DroneShield
DroneShield chief executive Oleg Vornik says the recent spectacular Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's strategic bomber fleet has underscored how asymmetric warfare is a new battlefield.
The Sun
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Iran plots to activate terrorist sleeper cell network across West in desperate last act in face of Israeli destruction
A 'VULNERABLE' IRAN may activate a network of sleeper cells across the West in the face of the Israeli bombing campaign, experts have warned. With its military and top Islamist leadership on the ropes, analysts say a weakened Iran could resort to asymmetric terror warfare in a bid to sow chaos against its enemies. 4 4 4 It has now been more than a week since Israel began pounding Iran's nuclear facilities and other military targets. The goal, as the Israelis say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons - as well as more ballistic missiles, including long-range weapons that can strike targets far beyond Israel. While Iran has been responding by launching frequent salvos of ballistic missiles, its top military command has been decapitated. And Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been forced to live in underground bunkers. Experts now fear that a vicious Iran could awaken its network of sleeper cells to carry out terror plots across the West. Barak Seener, a security and defence expert at Henry Jackson Society and Iran expert, said: "The very fact now that the Iranian regime is volatile, it's targeted, and it's highly vulnerable — that's what actually makes it increasingly dangerous to the West." Iran's murderous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is thought to run an extensive network of sleeper cells across the world. Mr Seener said that these sleeper cells could be regular people living regular lives. But when given the signal, they could carry out terrorist activities targeting the West. These terror operations could target public infrastructure and even civilians, with no weapons off the table, experts warn. The sleeper cells could even carry out assassination attempts on top leaders that could throw the world into chaos. Last year, an Iranian agent was charged with plotting to kill Donald Trump in an assassination that would have shaken the world. US prosecutors say the rogue state told ex-con Farhad Shakeri — said to be hiding in Tehran — to devise a seven-day plan to spy on and murder him. Prosecutors said an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Shakeri to devise a plan to eliminate the President elect. They claim the planned hit was an attempt to take vengeance for a US drone strike ordered by Trump that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, then said to be the world's No1 terrorist, in 2020. Trump's former security advisor, John Bolton, said the US President is "at the top" of an 'assassination list' from the Middle East nation. Mr Seener said: "They live amongst us in regular communities, have regular jobs, and they just are awaiting being activated to conduct malign activities, whether it be through a telephone text or a beeper, and then they already know what they are going to be doing. "If the regime feels threatened and on the verge of being toppled, then they may say, 'you're going to go down with us,' and at that point they may unleash their sleeper cells." In an op-ed for The Sun, expert Mark Almond wrote: "Iran's Islamic regime is a dangerous, wounded predator. "It cannot defeat Israel, but it could go mad and unleash terrorism, even using chemical weapons, which its industries can make much more easily than nuclear weapons." 4 Mr Seener said the attacks could range from an attack against a synagogue, an embassy, or blowing up a dirty bomb in Central London. Sir Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, warned back in October that Iran could turn on UK targets if it felt Britain was too enthusiastic in its support for Israel. He said the attacks could increase if the Middle East conflict intensifies. In August, Matt Jukes, the head of Counter Terror Policing, warned that Britain is facing an increase in plots by hostile states. He said Iranian dissidents and diaspora communities have been 'clearly at risk of kidnapping or assassination'. "These are people who are doing it daily. And when you are projecting soft power, you're creating the cultural milieu in which terrorism can be conducted much more readily. Counterterror police have investigated 15 of these cases alongside MI5. MI5 has responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, it was reported. Mr Seener said: "The reason why the Irgc can act with impunity, and why British citizens are at risk, is because of the British Government's unwillingness and failure to designate the Irgc as a terrorist organisation. "It means that they are able to conduct activities and infiltrate mosques, charities, community centres, cultural centres, and many of them, their directorship has been directly appointed by the supreme leader, Khamenei." "British Shias go on pilgrimages to religious sites in Iran and Iraq. They are targeted by the IRGC and recruited, so that when they return to the UK, they can conduct surveillance on potential targets." Iran's terror on UK street By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter Iran-fuelled hit squads on the streets of the UK have been linked to at least 15 threats to kill or kidnap detected by authorities. They are all part of a campaign of intimidation aimed at those who speak out against the hardline regime. The MI5 has accused Tehran of more than a dozen assassination and kidnap plots in Britain against dissidents and media organisations in the past two years. Officials have previously warned that the threat against Iranian critics living in the UK has ramped up drastically after the horror October 7 attacks. And given the hostile situation in the Middle East, Iran could ramp up its secret terror activities in the UK, Europe and the US, experts fear. In 2022, Major Gen Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC warned: "You've tried us before. Watch out because we're coming for you." Last year, Iranian TV journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outside his home in London, sparking an investigation led by counter-terrorism police. The suspects were believed to be proxy agents hired by Tehran. Mr Zeraati works for Iran International, a London-based Persian-speaking channel which has reported on Iran's human rights violations. He said a man approached him and asked for £3 before another man appeared and stabbed him in the leg. The two fled in a car being driven by a third man, leaving Mr Zeraati bleeding in the street. Investigators believed the three culprits were able to flee the country on a flight from Heathrow within hours of the attack. Mr Zeraati, whose organisation has been a vocal critic of Iran, said the attack was a "warning shot" from Tehran. He called on the UK government to declare the IRGC a terrorist group to stop it from spreading its doctrine. He said: "It will also send a clear message to the regime in Iran that enough is enough. "The whole of Western civilisation is in danger because of the threat the IRGC poses." A report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found almost half of journalists who covered Iran from the UK reported being physically or verbally harassed in the past five years. Individuals have been sent death threats by text and voice notes, with one message noting that the 'water underneath Westminster Bridge was very deep'. One said they were constantly worried about Iran targeting their children, saying: 'I wake up in the middle of the night. I check my son to see if he's there. I won't let him play in the garden on his own. I have to be there. I'm on alert constantly.' Another reporter told the RSF she had a package, which was designed to look like it contained anthrax, hand-delivered to her apartment block. While female TV journalist was approached on a London bus by a man who told her: 'We will kill you. You are a very bad person.' All of them are understood to have voiced their dissent against Tehran. The IRGC is the principal supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed in the UK. Amid threats of all-out war in the Middle East, officials last year wanted to expedite tightening domestic terror laws to ban IRGC operatives from nurturing Islamist terrorism at home. Current sanctions on Iran do not prevent state-linked organisations spreading jihadi propaganda or carrying out soft-power activities designed to radicalize British citizens. Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran, said: 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most antisemitic armed Islamist extremist organisation in the world. 'The government needs to proscribe the IRGC as a matter of urgency. 'The failure to proscribe the IRGC is putting British lives at risk, not least those from the British-Jewish community and British-Iranian diaspora —the two primary targets of IRGC terrorism in the UK.'
South China Morning Post
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Taiwanese, US firms display latest uncrewed surface vehicle tech with military potential
Taiwan is actively engaging both local and international defence innovators to showcase uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) technologies with potential military applications. Advertisement This comes as the island intensifies efforts to strengthen its asymmetric warfare capabilities, in response to growing threats from Beijing's People's Liberation Army. As part of the push, 12 companies – seven of them from Taiwan and the rest US-based – are taking part in a two-day USV demonstration that began on Tuesday at Suao port in northeastern Yilan county. The government-backed National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which organised the event, said the data collected would be used to develop a standardised control system and modular platforms adaptable to missions including patrol, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and logistics. 'The goal is to enhance flexibility, general applicability and production scalability for both military and civilian use,' the institute said in a statement. Advertisement
NHK
17-06-2025
- Business
- NHK
Exhibition in Taiwan tests domestically-developed sea drones
A public research institute in Taiwan has held an event featuring trial runs of Taiwanese-made sea drones. The government's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, or NCSIST, hosted a two-day exhibition that began on Tuesday in the northeastern county of Yilan facing the Pacific. This comes as China increases military pressure on Taiwan. Three Taiwanese firms tested their unmanned surface vehicles at sea, showing off highly advanced technology. Other local and foreign companies displayed sea drones they developed. Among them was an unmanned combat sea vehicle developed by Taiwanese manufacturer Thunder Tiger. It measures 8 meters in length and 2 meters in width. It boasts a top speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour. The maker says it is capable of carrying 1,300 to 1,500 kilograms of explosives and equipment. Taiwan's Defense Ministry has been promoting an "asymmetric warfare" strategy to counter China's massive military prowess with low-cost, agile weaponry. It has been focusing on the development of aerial and maritime drones. NCSIST President Li Shih-chiang expressed the intention to strengthen the partnership between the military and the private sector. He said the use of the highest quality sea drones by Taiwan's military will bring about a more effective deterrent.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Taking lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan eyes sea drones to counter China
WUSHI, Taiwan, June 13 (Reuters) - Just off the small Taiwan fishing port of Wushi on its Pacific coast, a Taiwanese company is testing what could eventually be a powerful but unglamorous new weapon in the island's military arsenal - sea drones. Used to great effect by Ukraine in the Black Sea against Russia, Taiwan is learning lessons on how it could use sea drones as an effective and low-cost way to fend off any possible Chinese invasion. These drones are uncrewed, remotely controlled small vessels that are packed with explosives and can be guided toward ships or potentially even attack targets in the air. Pushed by the United States, Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces to be able to wage "asymmetric warfare", using mobile, smaller and often cheaper weapons which still pack a targeted punch, like sea drones. "Uncrewed boats or vehicles have played a very significant role in the Ukraine war," Chen Kuan-ting, a lawmaker for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who sits on parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, told Reuters. "Uncrewed vehicles, whether they are boats or underwater vehicles, can effectively deter China because Taiwan is not the attacking side, we are the defending side," he said. Taiwan's defence ministry's research and development arm, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, has termed the sea drone plan the "Swift and Sudden" project, which so far has a modest budget of around T$800 million ($26.77 million). Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday sea drones would be included in an additional spending package to be unveiled later this year. Details of that special budget have yet to be announced. William Chen, chairman of the Thunder Tiger company, told Reuters last week on a boat off Wushi while viewing a test of their SeaShark 800 sea drone, which can carry 1,200 kg (2,600 lbs) of explosives and travel up to 500 km (310 miles), that these new weapons present an element of surprise for China. "We can create uncertainty. We can fill the Taiwan Strait with danger and risks. No one knows where these dangers could surface," Chen added. Next week, Thunder Tiger will be among 12 Taiwanese and foreign companies joining an exhibition just down the coast from Wushi arranged by the defence ministry to showcase unmanned surface vehicles that may end up being added to Taiwan's arsenal. Other companies taking part, according to the ministry, include Taiwan navy contractor Lungteh Shipbuilding ( opens new tab and U.S. military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII.N), opens new tab. "Drones is a top priority for both the United States and Taiwan. Obviously the conflict in Ukraine is focusing minds on what the next generation of warfare will look like," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, who is leading a U.S. defence industry delegation to Taiwan this week, including drone makers. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up its military pressure over the past five years, including staging half a dozen rounds of war games. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been studying how Ukraine has deployed drones to successfully offset Russia's advantage on the battlefield and has enlisted commercial drone companies, including Thunder Tiger, to help. Ukraine has deployed sea drones not only to attack ships in Russia's Black Sea fleet, but also to shoot down aircraft. Taiwan's navy is dwarfed by that of China with its aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines, though the country lacks recent combat experience. China's last successful large-scale amphibious assault was in 1950 when it seized Hainan island at the tail end of the Chinese civil war, with troops ferried across on junks. Peter Chen, a drone expert and executive director of Taiwan security think tank TTRDA, said Taiwan can undoubtedly make world-class sea drones. "But when it comes to the application, how to turn them into top-notch weapons, it is not the responsibility of private companies. The views of government and the military on how to properly integrate the weapons into the battle strategy, that needs more thinking," he said.
