Government officials and opposition lawmakers yesterday clashed over funding for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers demanding that the regular budget be used for military drones.
KMT lawmakers presented their drone budget plan at a public hearing also attended by the party-affiliated Chung Hsing Policy and Education Foundation at the legislature.
A senior military officer and government officials said that the proposal does not meet urgent national defense needs and would be redundant as an economic policy.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said that the proposal includes a 40 percent offset for purchases of US drones, meaning that for each drone procured from the US, the suppliers must buy Taiwan-made components worth 40 percent of the contract’s value.
The offset and other measures facilitating technology transfers would ensure growth in the domestic drone industry, which is a crucial goal of the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party, Lai said.
The proposed defense budget for next year is NT$1.1 trillion (US$34.08 billion), or 4 percent of GDP, while the government has previously pledged to increase military spending to 5 percent of GDP, he said.
The massive budget cannot be passed through special funding measures without harming the legislature’s constitutional authority to check the executive branch, he said.
Legislative oversight is a guardrail against waste, especially with rapidly changing drone technologies, Lai said.
Making large orders increases the risk of waste, as UAV models that appear promising at the time of purchase could become obsolete by the time of delivery, he added.
Lieutenant-General Huang Wen-chi (黃文啟), head of the Ministry of National Defense’s Department of Strategic Planning, said that a special drone budget is necessary for obtaining urgently needed capabilities.
“Taiwan is not in a position to freely acquire whatever capabilities it wants,” Huang said.
The military must have the latitude to obtain platforms and systems through alternative means to fill critical capability gaps when regular methods fail to achieve results, Huang said.
Rapidly building domestic UAV manufacturing capability is a crucial national security matter, as Taiwan would most likely be cut off from external supply sources in a conflict with China, he said.
Coastal surveillance drones, attack drones and automated attack boats in the ministry’s special budget are all single-use or otherwise expendable platforms that require constant replacement to be useful, he said.
The armed forces would not be able to begin ramping up drone capabilities without a lot of UAVs to train and operate with, Huang said, adding that time is a crucial factor in national defense.
The drone industry has the potential to become a second strategically valuable economic sector for Taiwan next to chipmaking, a potential the government procurement strategy is not primed to realize, KMT Legislator Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) said.
The ministry is showing favor to a few manufacturers at the expense of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which is not conducive to building supply chains capable of sustaining an industry, he added.
Industry Development Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Kuo-hsuan (陳國軒) said that the government’s drone industry development plan already includes subsidies for SMEs and building domestic supply chains.
Amending laws governing subsidies for the defense industry, SMEs and drones would be more than sufficient to address the opposition’s concerns, Chen said.
Typhoon Dolphin is expected to enter the East China Sea on Saturday and intensify rainfall in western regions over the weekend as the typhoon’s outer circulation sweeps across the sea north of Taiwan, independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said today. The eastern coast should prepare for extreme heat caused by downslope winds over the weekend, while southwesterly winds from Monday would bring localized heavy rain to the southwest, he said. As Typhoon Dolphin’s outer bands move past northern Taiwan over the next couple of days, northern, central and southern areas would experience showers tomorrow, he said. Rainfall over the weekend would lead to
STORM SEASON: A typhoon and two tropical storms currently forming are certainly making life exciting for those living the western Pacific, the CWA said One typhoon and two tropical storms are in the west Pacific, and a sea warning for Typhoon Dolphin could be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon as the storm closes on Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the center of the typhoon was about 1,680km east of Taipei and moving west at 20kph, the CWA said. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kujia formed west of Luzon at 2am yesterday and is forecast to move east of the island before weakening and being absorbed by Typhoon Dolphin, the agency said. Steered by the Pacific high-pressure system, Dolphin is forecast to
READY TO AID: The CGA has offered assistance to Chinese vessels in distress, and governments should help ships in emergencies no matter their nationality, the OAC said Taiwan yesterday condemned reported actions by the China Coast Guard against a Japanese patrol vessel attempting to shelter from Typhoon Dolphin, saying that emergency refuge should not be used to challenge Taiwan’s sovereignty or jurisdiction. Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Deputy Minister Sung Chen-en (宋承恩) made the remarks after reports that China Coast Guard vessel No. 2304 on Friday night tailed the Japan Coast Guard’s Urado (PL-86) as it sailed from waters off Taichung toward Penghu County to evade the typhoon. Penghu fishers said they also spotted China Coast Guard vessels numbered 2504, 2102, 2301 and 1401 around the Strait’s median
Several airlines and the Maritime and Port Bureau yesterday announced widespread service changes as Typhoon Dolphin approaches, with authorities urging travelers to monitor updates and avoid nonessential trips to outlying islands. Starlux Airlines said its JX308/JX309 flight today between Taichung International Airport and Japan’s Shimojishima Airport in Okinawa Prefecture has been canceled. Starlux has also tentatively cancelled its JX302/JX303 and JX312/JX313 flights tomorrow between Taichung and Okinawa’s Naha Airport. However, the airline added that not all flights between Taiwan and Okinawa have been canceled — its JX870 flight tomorrow from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Naha is delayed until 2:40pm, while the returning
RSS