Taiwanese drone companies have expanded their reach into the European market by signing two memorandums of understanding (MOU) with Lithuania to enhance collaboration in the uncrewed aerial vehicle industry.
The MOUs were signed on Thursday during the Drone Industry Business Forum in Vilnius by a representative from the Lithuanian Defence and Security Industry Association and Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), who inked the two pacts as representative of a Taiwanese drone industry delegation and the Taiwan Defense Industry Development Association.
The Lithuanian group is the fourth international partner of the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA), a government-supported Taiwanese drone supply chain alliance with more than 50 members established in September and headed by Hu.
Photo: CNA
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), convener of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, and Lithuanian Vice Minister of National Defence Monika Korolioviene were at the signing ceremony.
In their speeches, Lin and Korolioviene cited the democratic values shared by the two countries, calling them a solid foundation for bilateral cooperation.
The MOUs with Lithuania are Hu’s third and fourth agreements signed within a week, following one with the Polish-Taiwanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Friday last week and another with the Latvian Federation of Defence and Security Industries in Riga on Tuesday.
Hu signed three of the agreements as head of the TEDIBOA.
The alliance targets the growing drone market, driven by increasing geopolitical tensions, particularly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The global military drone market is projected to grow from US$16.5 billion in 2022 to US$34.3 billion next year, data compiled by TrendForce, a Taiwanese market research firm, showed.
The Vilnius forum brought together about 20 Taiwanese drone manufacturers and 40 firms from Lithuania and Ukraine, including LTMiLTech, whose products have been deployed in the war between Kyiv and Moscow.
Andrius Guzaitis, a manager at LTMiLTech, said his company is seeking international supply chains for components and had sent personnel to Taiwan earlier this year, and is optimistic about collaborating more closely with Taiwanese manufacturers.
Valdas Macys, representing another Lithuanian drone company, said the global market is increasingly cautious about using drones made with Chinese components, and Taiwan’s democratic values and advanced technologies give it a competitive advantage in this space.
At the forum, Wang said that Taiwan is developing mine-detection drones, which could support Ukraine’s efforts against Russia.
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