Following the legislature’s removal of drone procurement from a special defense budget act, a local defense expert yesterday urged the military to clarify its uncrewed aerial vehicle strategy, and open its drone design specifications to private manufacturers to lower costs and enable mass production.
Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), a research fellow at the state-run Institute for National Defense and Security Research, suggested that the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) release drone specifications to civilian manufacturers for mass production.
The policy, if adopted, would prove an effective cost-reduction measure that could drive per-drone costs down to NT$100,000 to NT$200,000, and encourage fair competition among domestic manufacturers while ensuring stable supply, Shu said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The Ukraine-Russia War and the US-Israel war on Iran have demonstrated the usefulness of long-range drones, he said, citing how the Ukrainian drones have achieved near-total paralysis of Russian air capabilities, while Iranian drones have hit more than 200 targets in the region.
Such drones can also be used offensively to launch one-way swarm attacks, or source strikes to reduce the enemy’s stocks of anti-air missiles and munitions, Shu said.
The Ministry of National Defense must have long-range strike capabilities, such as harassing enemy airfields, ports and other strategic locations, which would disrupt the enemy’s plans and limit their staging grounds, Shu said.
It is imperative to set aside an annual budget for drone procurement and research and development, as a stream of continued orders would incentivize manufacturers to upgrade their products, he said.
Drone technology is advancing at breakneck speed, and purchasing them over the years would allow the military to procure cutting-edge devices, Shu said.
The ministry must have a general strategy in its drone platform purchases, Shu said, citing how the military’s upcoming Littoral Combat Command, to be established in July, is purchasing large amounts of first-person-view drones and other small drones to shore up the military’s littoral combat capabilities, but lacks similar platforms to counter air incursions.
The military must have a designation, or mission purpose, assigned to micro, small and long-range drones, Shu said.
He added that it is worrying how the army has not yet clarified how it intends to acquire targets for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, the Army Tactical Missile System or the M109A7 self-propelled howitzers.
Shu warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is among the first to adopt drone swarm strategies and that its drone fleet far exceeds Taiwan’s, meaning Taiwan’s anti-air missiles could be depleted trying to counter Chinese drones.
The military has yet to provide concrete plans and contingencies for countering low-altitude drone strikes, Shu said, adding that subsequent discussions on the autonomous national defense industry’s capabilities should focus on how to use drones as a force multiplier.
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