A Pentagon unit tasked with facilitating the US military’s adoption of new technology is soon to deploy officials to dozens of friendly nations, including Taiwan, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
The US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is to send a representative to collaborate with Taiwan on drones and military applications from the semiconductor industry by the end of the year, the British daily reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
“Drones will certainly be a focus, but they will also be looking at connecting to the broader civilian and dual-use ecosystem, including the tech sector,” one source was quoted as saying.
Photo: Reuters
The liaison officer to Taiwan would be stationed at the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy in Taiwan, the other two sources told the newspaper.
Another priority is to send a DIU official to Japan, they said.
DIU Director Doug Beck abruptly resigned on Monday, but his departure is not expected to affect the liaison program, the Pentagon told the newspaper.
The defense department would “continue to ensure the successful transition of proven DIU initiatives that support the secretary of defense’s priorities,” it quoted a US defense official as saying.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials at two US allies said the DIU’s progress in forging links with foreign industries would be a test of US President Donald Trump’s commitment to cooperative relationships.
“Much of the rhetoric we have heard from Trump officials has been demands for more money or suggestions that we can’t be trusted,” the paper quoted an Asian national security official as saying.
“Putting someone here who values our technology, it will be a recognition that we can only achieve these things together,” they added.
“We intend to place liaisons with allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East as quickly as personnel become available,” a DIU spokesperson told the Financial Times.
“Exchanging liaisons with like innovation organizations is an important component of the DIU’s international line of effort, as it allows [the US] to seize collaboration opportunities early,” it quoted them as saying.
The DIU’s plan came as China continues making strides in developing new arms, including spacecraft, warships and missile systems, while endemic capacity woes plague the US defense industrial base, the newspaper said.
Beijing in 2021 surprised the Pentagon by testing a maneuvering hypersonic spacecraft that fired a missile mid-flight, with the then-chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff comparing the incident to a “Sputnik moment,” it said.
In 2023, Washington directed the DIU to focus on technologies most critical to the US armed forces’ ability to defeat a peer-level adversary in a conflict, including drones, the newspaper said.
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