The nation is developing a fleet of high-altitude balloons and drones to bolster Taiwan’s communications resiliency, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said.
The high-altitude communications balloons and drones would serve as the backbone of an Internet network under the nation’s exclusive control, it said.
In October, Taiwan launched its first high-altitude communications balloon carrying hydrogen fuel cells and mobile base stations, MODA Department of Resource Management Director Niu Hsin-jen (牛信仁) told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) in a recent interview.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Digital Affairs
The program is a collaboration of the ministry, TH Aero Tech (天興航太), the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, the National Taipei University of Science and Technology and the nation’s three main telecoms, Niu said.
The domestically developed and manufactured system is designed to control telecommunications networks across a 380km2 area during a military conflict or natural disaster, he said.
Balloons offer important advantages over other platforms, such as being inexpensive and easy to mass produce, making them resilient to attrition, he said.
Unlike satellite deployments that require negotiations with foreign governments on orbits and the usage of frequencies, balloons can use any frequency and be deployed at will within Taiwan’s airspace, he said.
The key technologies of the high-altitude balloons’ design and manufacturing are primarily sourced from the US, the UK, Japan and the Czech Republic, none of which pose a potential national security threat, Niu said.
Airships, balloons and drones are the main types of high-altitude station platforms that can be used for wireless communications, he said, adding that balloons were selected for their superior payload, loiter time and technological maturity.
The government did not develop airships due to the heavy energy consumption required for their deployment, Niu said.
The ministry is next year to increase the operational ceiling of balloons to 800m or higher, enable linkage between balloon-run networks to mimic the capability of satellite constellations and develop a drone-based platform station, he said.
The balloon-based, high-altitude platform station remains an experimental technology, but the potential for commercialization is substantial and could be achieved if a certification system is created, he said.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS