The military plans to purchase tactical uncrewed aerial vehicles (TUAVs) and underwater vehicles, and improve its radar surveillance and camouflage capabilities in response to the increasing military threat from China, according to a defense budget proposal it submitted to lawmakers for review on Monday.
The defense budget proposal the military sent to the Legislative Yuan for next year still requires approval, but shows that the army wants to spend NT$779 million (US$26.4 million) from fiscal year 2021 to 2023 to buy 50 TUAVs to boost its newly formed combined arms battalions’ early warning and response capabilities.
The navy wants to spend NT$213 million from next year to 2022 to purchase 12 underwater vehicles to boost its amphibious forces’ mobility.
From next year to 2030, the navy also plans to spend a total of NT$5.05 billion to overhaul the radar stations that monitor the waters surrounding the nation.
The stations have been in service for more than two decades and are in desperate need of an upgrade, the budget proposal says.
The Military Police Command, which is responsible for guarding the president, is expected to spend NT$60 million to buy 65 new motorcycles from next year to 2022 to replace the aging Yamaha Royal Star motorcycles it uses, the proposal says.
The 1,300cc motorcycles are too heavy, have low ground clearance and would not be mobile enough during war, so the military wants to replace them with smaller, more mobile bikes, said a military source, who asked to remain anonymous.
However, the command has yet to decide which model it would buy, the source added.
The Ministry of National Defense hopes to spend NT$1.1 billion from next year to 2023 to replace the camouflage nets it uses at all of its military branches in response to the significant improvement of the Chinese military’s surveillance technologies over the years.
The defense ministry’s Armaments Bureau has allocated NT$560 million from next year to 2024 to build four prototypes of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.
For fiscal year 2021, the central government has allocated a total of NT$453.4 billion, or 2.4 percent of this year’s projected GDP, on the defense budget, which is a 4.4 percent annual increase.
Of the total budget, NT$29 billion is to be used to buy 66 F-16V jets from the US.
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