A drone forced Taiwan's Ching Chuan Kang air base to shut down its airspace, exposing a gap in how well military and civilian airports are protected.

• The base closed after a drone entered restricted airspace near Taichung, where flying is banned within 2.6 km of the airport.
• Small drones set to fly on their own are almost impossible to spot because they send no remote control signal — the same reason they work so well in war.
• Taiwan's military airports already have homegrown counter-drone systems that jam intruders, but the coverage stops at the airport fence, and this drone flew just outside it.
• Store-bought drones must be registered and are blocked from no-fly zones by software, but home-built or modified ones escape the rules entirely.
• Jamming near airports is risky: strong interference can knock out control tower radio and navigation signals, so any new system has to be carefully tested.

Outlook: Pressure is building to extend anti-drone defenses beyond airport boundaries into surrounding flight paths, with safety of jamming near control towers the main hurdle.