Under the “Drone National Team” program, Taiwan is recruiting the island’s commercial drone makers and aviation and aerospace firms in a joint effort with the military to fast-track the building of a self-sufficient drone supply chain. “One small drone could blow up a tank that is worth tens of millions.” Hawk Yang, R&D head at drone company Thunder Tiger GroupĬlearly outmatched, Tsai “pressed the button” on the creation of a strategic plan to close the gap, said a person who attended a series of meetings in which the drone strategy was forged. Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via REUTERS Here she is seen inspecting a display of drones at an aerospace park in the southern city of Chiayi in 2021. President Tsai Ing-wen “pressed the button” on Taiwan’s drone program last year. These drones range from jet-powered, long range surveillance aircraft to small quadcopters deployed by ground troops. Taiwan currently has four drone types at its disposal and a fleet size of just “hundreds,” according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a separate internal security report.Īcross the narrow Taiwan Strait, China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, has an arsenal of more than 50 different drone types that is estimated to run into the tens of thousands, according to defense analysts and a Reuters examination of Chinese military manufacturers and reports in Chinese state media. “We are far outnumbered,” said the report, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters. “Since the war began, Ukraine, which was previously considered as lacking air supremacy, cleverly used drones to create its own partial air supremacy,” the presentation stated.įor Taiwan, though, the report painted a darker picture: The island lagged dangerously behind its far more powerful rival, China, in arming itself with aerial drones – and needed a crash program to close the gap. President Tsai Ing-wen was given an internal 77-page briefing report via PowerPoint.

On the agenda: How was Ukraine, in its war with Russia, successfully offsetting the advantages of a much more powerful foe? In the summer of 2022, just months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Taiwan’s president gathered senior officials from her ruling party in downtown Taipei.

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