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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Military to review locally made drones
An uncrewed aerial vehicle is exhibited outside the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in Chiayi County in an undated photogaph. Photo: Taipei Times file
DEFENSE BUILDUP: Developing locally manufactured uncrewed aerial vehicles would greatly benefit Taiwan’s arms industry and supply chain, a source in the military said
By Chung Li-hua and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
The first domestically produced military-grade drones have been delivered to the military and are to be inspected over the coming week, a source in the military said yesterday.
The drones, which the private sector is manufacturing for the military, must have a local content ratio of 80 percent, the source said.
Of the eight companies that signed on to the procurement program, half were able to reach the required standard when the drones were delivered on Monday last week, the source said, adding that the list of contractors would be finalized by Tuesday next week, after the drones are inspected.
The domestic drone industry at present mainly uses imported parts, with the final assembly being done in Taiwan, the source said.
“This procurement program will greatly benefit Taiwan’s domestic arms industry and supply chain,” the source said.
A committee at the Executive Yuan in December last year settled on five drone prototype designs, which eight companies were commissioned to build. The designs were based on distinct deployment needs, including ship-based surveillance and reconnaissance, land-based surveillance and reconnaissance, general surveillance and reconnaissance, and target acquisition.
A miniature model was also designed to minimize enemy detection.
After the list of contractors is finalized, the military would order 3,000 drones of the five design types, which would be scheduled for delivery in October, the source said.
Separately, the army on July 28 selected a lead contractor to develop drone-defense systems to counter incursions into Taiwan’s airspace by Chinese drones.
The defense systems are to include active and passive radar systems and jamming devices.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs in March had chosen four contractors, but the Ministry of National Defense （MND） expressed concerns over the selection process and held its own review.
The MND signed a contract with the lead contractor, which is to deliver a solution to the defense ministry within four months, but plans for other manufacturers to join the drone-defense program have been delayed due to issues with integration, the MND said.
The army has allocated NT$800 million （US$25.26 million） for drone defenses, and is expected to purchase 26 defense systems by the end of the year, it said.
They are to be installed in Kinmen County, where drone interference is the most serious, it said.
In other developments, a military source yesterday said that the armed forces plan to garrison a new military police battalion in south Taipei, as part of efforts to bolster protection for the president and other top government leaders.
The unit would be the sixth military police battalion under the 202nd Military Police Command stationed in Taipei, but the specific location of the garrison has not yet been decided, the source said.
Unlike many other countries, Taiwan’s military police are a separate branch of the armed forces tasked with protecting government leaders from assassination or capture, guarding strategic facilities, and conducting counterintelligence against enemy infiltrators, spies and saboteurs.
The arrangement comes after a military source in April said that Taiwan might double the number of its military police in the coming years for the same purpose as China intensifies its threat to the regional stability across the Taiwan Strait.
About 5,000 of the 210,000 troops in Taiwan’s armed forces are military police, a number that the source said is set to double to 10,000 pending central government approval.
Five military police battalions are garrisoned in Taipei, including the 211th and the 332nd, which are responsible for protecting the president and the vice president respectively, as well as armored and artillery units stationed in the northern part of the city.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
