The Ministry of National Defense (MND) plans this year to obtain nearly 1,000 drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning abilities as part of its efforts to bolster the military’s combat capabilities, the ministry said in a report delivered to the Legislative Yuan last week said.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) is today to brief lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee on details of the report on the implementation of the Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement Plan Purchase (海空戰力提升計畫採購).
The ministry has included drone development as an important part of military building plans after its wide application was seen in the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last year and Russia’s war in Ukraine which began in 2022.
Photo: Taipei Times file
The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, a corporation that is part of the ministry’s Armaments Bureau, has been commissioned to research and develop medium and large-sized military drones and attack drones with military specifications.
The ministry is also working with private contractors to develop commercial drones for use by the military.
The increased use of drones on battlefields has shown their importance in modern warfare, the report says.
Aside from commissioning the Chungshan Institute and private contractors to build drones, the Armaments Bureau and the Ministry of Economic Affairs should discuss ways to shore up defense capabilities by integrating domestic sources and production capacity, and removing influence from the Chinese supply chain, it says.
The report says that the military plans to acquire 968 drones of seven different types this year, including attack drones produced by the Chungshan Institute as well as “second-generation short-range uncrewed aerial vehicles,” and “miniature,” “target acquisition,” “carrier,” “surveillance” and “land” drones purchased from private contractors.
The report also says that the military has taken AI and machine learning technologies into consideration when acquiring drones, such as those with “one-click takeoff,” “autonomous return,” “path planning flight,” “dynamic target tracking,” “coordinate distance calculation” and other capabilities to reduce operator load, flight risks and improve operational efficiency.
Emerging AI technologies would be included in future development plans, it says.
The ministry’s budget assessment report this year showed that it would acquire “target acquisition,” “miniature,” “ship-based,” “surveillance” and “land” commercial drones from this year to 2027, which would increase its total number of drones to 3,231.
The ministry’s budget plan also shows that it is procuring 201 new generation “short-range uncrewed aerial vehicles” jointly developed by the military and private contractors. No public data on the total number of attack drones is available.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
RSS