Taiwan’s military and US-based Kratos Defense have successfully tested a new jet-powered attack drone, a move aimed at rapidly boosting the nation’s ability to field “large numbers” of low-cost drones amid a rising Chinese threat.
In a recent test campaign at Kratos’ facility in Oklahoma City, engineers from both sides validated the integration of a Taiwanese mission payload on the Mighty Hornet IV attack drone, Kratos said in a statement on Thursday.
Kratos called the test a “milestone” that could pave the way for deeper cooperation between the company and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
The effort comes as Taiwan seeks to expand security ties with the US, including jointly developing and manufacturing weapons.
In a statement, the institute described the project as a “new milestone in US-Taiwan defense technology collaboration,” saying such cooperation could shorten development timelines and meet Taiwan’s needs for “rapid countermeasures and long-range pre-emptive strikes.”
The Mighty Hornet IV is being developed as a low-cost, cruise missile-like weapon, and the two sides aim to base a “large quantity” of the systems in Taiwan as both a deterrent and a wartime asset, Kratos said.
China has been sending warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around Taiwan on an almost daily basis in what Taipei calls “gray zone” tactics. It held its latest large-scale war games near the nation in late December last year.
The number of detected Chinese military aircraft — including fighters and drones — operating near Taiwan rose 23 percent last year from a year earlier, the Ministry of National Defense said this week.
Taipei has been working to secure cheaper, more numerous uncrewed systems that are key to complicating any potential Chinese attack.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS