S2E57: Asia's drone wars: Who's buying Predators and Reapers?

Asian Insider

Jan 08, 2026•22 min•Season 2Ep. 57

--:--

Listen in podcast apps:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Download

Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

As Asia’s militaries show an increasing appetite to deploy drones – most recently during the Thai-Cambodian skirmishes and the brief India-Pakistan conflict in May, 2025, we speak to the chief executive of the company that makes lethal Unmanned Aerial Systems such as the Predator, Reaper and Sea Guardian.

Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Ravi speaks with Dr Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corp, on trends in modern warfare, the rise of data-driven hi-tech weapons, weapons that ‘loiter’ in the air awaiting command from the ground and space as the next frontier of contestation.

They also focus on UASs – in warfare and potentially for civil use – and discuss whether unmanned drones have raised the risk of warfare by not putting pilots directly in harm’s way.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:46 'The future is in unmanned systems'

5:45 ‘Hey, there’s an UAV flying right alongside me’

7:00 Asian militaries buying Predators and eyeing EMALS: India, Japan, Taiwan, Asean

14:05 Can US go it alone in defence research?

16:43 Does unmanned raise risk of war?

20:32 ‘There will always be pilots’

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis