Taiwan to double drone production to counter Chinese invasion capabilities

台灣將加倍生產無人機以對抗中國入侵能量

Taiwan military to acquire four types of domestically produced attack drones


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan plans to double production of attack drones to turn the Taiwan Strait into a “hellscape” if China tries to invade.

US Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said at a House hearing on April 9 that US and Taiwan investments are aligned in building the hellscape deterrent. A defense official on Saturday told Liberty Times that Taiwan needs a sufficient number of attack drones and must establish an independent supply chain capable of mass production.

The official said the mass production of domestically developed attack drone systems will continue. The source said plans are underway to double production.

The source pointed out that several items under the Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement Plan budget are nearing completion. For example, the Wan-Chien air-to-ground missile system program concluded at the end of last year, and the Hsiung Sheng missile system has only NT$100 million (US$3 million) remaining in this year's budget, indicating it's nearly complete.

The mass production plan for attack drones is set to conclude by the end of this year, and the military is currently reviewing whether to shift the subsequent production of these drones into the regular annual defense budget or include them in the next phase of the special defense budget projects, according to the official.

The source said that based on actual combat experiences abroad, attack drones have very high attrition rates on the battlefield, hundreds or even thousands may not be sufficient for defensive operations. Therefore, the official said that beyond maintaining adequate reserves and stockpiles, the most crucial factor is developing the domestic capability to independently produce attack drones, including components, warheads, and guidance and control systems.

The military source explained that what the US refers to as a hellscape in the Taiwan Strait entails deploying unmanned systems across all domains, air, shore, surface, and underwater with minimal manpower. These systems could attack enemy ships and paralyze military operations.

This includes loitering munitions and attack drones in the air, unmanned surface vessels, semi-submersible unmanned underwater vehicles, and land-based anti-ship missile systems. These can execute full-scale saturation strikes on key targets via command and control systems or execute precision strikes by using coordinated firepower and task allocation to allow attack drones to break through enemy defenses.

In addition to already acquiring over 1,000 US-made Switchblade 300 and Altius 600M-V attack drones, and planning to double the order, the official said Taiwan’s military will also be acquiring four types of domestically produced attack drones:

A short-range drone designed for direct strikes on enemy forces
A drone with cruise missile or loitering munition capabilities, hovering in the air to lock onto a target before conducting a suicide attack
A vertical take-off and landing drone capable of changing flight modes, inspired by advanced foreign technologies
A drone with missile-like capabilities but at a significantly lower cost