Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday.
Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last year.
Photo: Bloomberg
The hellscape strategy refers to utilizing uncrewed aerial vehicles, boats, submersibles and loitering munitions to conduct saturation strikes or precision attacks against high-value targets to attrit or paralyze the PLA invasion fleet, the official said.
Such attacks are cost-effective, require a comparatively small number of troops and could potentially overwhelm the defensive systems of a larger adversary, they said.
As the Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement comes to a close, the Ministry of National Defense is mulling significant investments in creating a domestic capability to sustain the mass production of uncrewed vehicles, components, guidance kits and related pyrotechnics, the official said.
Observations of foreign conflicts suggest that modern warfare consumes uncrewed vehicles and loitering munitions at rates that strain the capabilities of any defense industrial base, they added.
The military tentatively plans to develop four types of combat drones consisting of a short-ranged direct attack model, a loitering munition model, a vertical takeoff and horizontal airlift-capable model, and a cost-effective type with capabilities comparable to guided missiles, they said.
The ministry would also place thousands of additional AeroVironment Switchblade 300 and Anduril Altius-600M orders from the US to complement planned indigenous systems, the official said.
Officials have yet to determine if drones would be funded via a special program or as part of the ministry’s recurring budget, they added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not