Taiwan’s armed forces want to acquire more than 1,400 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 200,000 coastal attack drones and 1,320 one-way attack uncrewed surface vessels.

Parliament passed on August 27 the law providing NT$ 240 billion over six years, with procurement priority for domestically produced low-cost, high-performance uncrewed systems. US company Maritime Tactical Systems announced that Taiwan’s coast guard will buy 25 of its uncrewed vessels, to be made in the United States and Taiwan, and the country aims to become an Asian hub for drone production free of Chinese components, capitalizing on its lead in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.