Taiwan’s top military research unit has unveiled a series of locally made attack and surveillance drones — including a loitering munition similar in appearance to the U.S.-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300 drone deployed by Ukraine — as the self-ruled island focuses on asymmetric capabilities to defend against the much larger Chinese military.
The move by the state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is part of Taipei’s efforts to speed up research, development and production of military drones as it draws lessons from Ukraine’s use of these relatively low-cost assets in its fight against Russia.
To achieve this, NCSIST has been teaming up with private companies that provide key components and sensitive technologies for the unmanned systems.