TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US media reports that Taiwan wants American-made drones to bolster its deterrent against China.
Foreign Policy on Thursday (May 8) cited sources as saying that Taiwan has sent letters to the Pentagon requesting munitions equivalent to AeroVironment’s Switchblade 300 and the Switchblade 600.
Ivan Kanapathy, a former National Security Council official, told the magazine that Taiwan is starting to acquiesce to Washington’s focus on obtaining asymmetric weapons.
The report indicates that Taiwan has already sent two requests to the US to purchase US-made drones.
The second request is for larger drones, possibly AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 or the ALTIUS-600 from the American startup Anduril. The latter can hover over targets for up to four hours, longer than AeroVironment’s models.
Over the past three years, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft have frequently entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), often crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Officials in Taiwan are reportedly becoming convinced that American-made “suicide drones” can effectively target Chinese warships trying to cross the Taiwan Strait or Chinese tanks attempting to come ashore in Taiwan.
SkyNews reports that 50 research teams are taking part in a push by the government to produce 3,000 military drones and has allocated US$300 (NT$9.72 billion) for the project. Taiwan’s investment in the drone industry has reportedly already borne fruit, with domestically produced drones capable of hitting targets up to 149 km away.
