Taiwan yesterday unveiled its first missile to be jointly manufactured with a US company, marking a major step in the fast-growing defense cooperation between Taipei and Washington to counter China’s military threat.
President William Lai (賴清德) in June said he would deepen security cooperation with the US and the nation would jointly develop and manufacture weapons.
Ahead of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition, the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) put on display Barracuda-500, an autonomous, low-cost cruise missile designed by US defense technology start-up Anduril Industries.
Photo: Wu Che-yu, Taipei Times
The NCSIST said that through technology transfer, it plans to mass produce in Taiwan the missile, designed for group attacks on warships and similar to exploding drones.
The NCSIST declined to offer details such as a timeline for production or expected volume.
"This is a new endeavor. We aim to build our own defense capabilities more swiftly and efficiently, incorporating the latest technologies," NCSIST president Lee Shih-chiang (李世強) said.
Anduril Industries did not respond to a request for comment sent outside of US business hours.
Taiwan’s goal is to build the entire production line locally and to keep the cost per missile below NT$6.5 million (US$216,493), Lee said.
"Should hostilities break out, should we face blockade, we are not like Ukraine, which still has the European continent to provide a steady, uninterrupted flow of reinforcements," he said. "All our resilience must be built upon this island."
Lee said the NCSIST would sign two contracts and six memorandums of understanding with six unspecified US and Canadian companies during the three-day trade show that opens today.
Taiwan has set a goal of spending 5 percent of its GDP on defense by 2030, up from a target of 3.3 percent next year, and is keen for greater international support aside from the US.
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