GWOT Aircraft Repurposed for Taiwan Drone Defense
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- The AGR-20 FALCO munition converts unguided rockets into low-cost counter-drone interceptors at roughly 1/19th the price of a Sidewinder missile, and can be mounted on MQ-9 Reapers, Mojaves, OA-1K Skyraider IIs, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, AH-1Z Vipers, and AH-64 Apaches—with the Apache's 19-shot pods carrying 76 interceptors.
- Russia launched over 112,000 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine, while 15 months of Houthi attacks with Iranian-made Shaheds consumed more U.S. Navy interceptors than the previous 30 years, underscoring the scale of the drone threat China could replicate.
- Chinese drone strikes on U.S. forces occurred twice in 2026 using Iranian-made Shaheds, killing seven American soldiers—evidence the article cites for why Beijing would mass-produce Shahed-type drones in a Taiwan scenario, given its existing role helping Russia and Iran build them.
- MALE drones are being adapted to launch long-range anti-ship missiles including the LRASM, an air-launched NSM variant, and the Marine Corps' Red Wolf—giving legacy platforms the reach to strike PLA Navy ships without depending on carriers or land-based launchers.
- Legacy ISR production lines have been dormant for decades: the RC-135 hasn't been built since the 1960s, the U-2 since the 1980s, the E-3 Sentry's last airframe rolled out in 1992, and the carrier-based S-3 Viking was retired in 2016—gaps Reapers and Mojaves could partially fill as 'motherships' for smaller drones.
- The Apache's 30mm chaingun and A-10's GAU-8 cannon can serve as cost-effective counter-drone weapons, with a dedicated anti-drone shell now entering mass production for the Apache; Ukraine has already demonstrated similar applications using Soviet-era helicopters against Russian drones.
- Russian helicopters eliminated many Ukrainian USVs with guns and rockets until Ukraine began mounting missiles on its sea drones—precisely the tradeoff that makes counterterrorism aircraft's rocket pods, gun options, and standoff range attractive for sinking Chinese kamikaze speedboats.
Why it matters: The FALCO rocket at roughly 1/19th the price of a Sidewinder, mounted on already-procured legacy airframes, could resolve the cost imbalance of intercepting cheap Chinese drone swarms while simultaneously filling ISR gaps left by Cold War-era production lines that shut down decades ago.
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