WASHINGTON - A leaked United States military assessment says the Chinese military may soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone that travels at least three times the speed of sound, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited a secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The document, which Reuters could not confirm or verify independently, features satellite imagery dated Aug 9 that shows two WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drones at an airbase in eastern China, about 560km inland from Shanghai, according to the newspaper.
The US assessment said China’s People’s Liberation Army had “almost certainly” established its first unmanned aerial vehicle unit at the base, which falls under the Eastern Theatre Command, the branch of the Chinese military responsible for enforcing Chinese sovereignty claims over Taiwan, the newspaper reported.
The US Defence Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese government could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Washington Post said it obtained the assessment of the programme from a trove of images of classified files posted on the Discord messaging app, allegedly by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who was arrested last week.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.
The leaks first became widely known earlier in April, setting Washington on edge about the damage they may have caused.
The episode embarrassed the US by revealing its spying on allies and purported Ukrainian military vulnerabilities.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent meeting with US House of Representative Kevin McCarthy had upset Beijing.
China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan is one of its provinces, says Taiwan is the single most important and sensitive issue in its relations with the US. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. REUTERS
