Taiwan and the US are seeking to enhance collaboration between their drone companies in an effort to establish supply chains that are not reliant on China. A delegation of executives from 26 American manufacturers of unmanned systems or anti-drone systems will be arriving in Taipei for a three-day visit. The group includes officials from the commerce department, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, and Dev Shenoy, who leads the defense department’s microelectronics research and engineering.
This exchange highlights efforts to reduce risks across various industries due to competition between the US and China, as well as Washington’s security concerns regarding certain Chinese products with both civilian and military applications. It also underscores Taiwan’s technological capabilities that enable it to maintain a crucial role in global supply chains despite Western countries attempting to limit their dependence on Taiwanese chip manufacturers.
During this visit, US companies aim to identify non-Chinese component suppliers or manufacturing partners. Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo sees this mission as an opportunity for Taiwanese companies to become part of the US supply chain through co-production. He believes that since the US is focused on removing China from its supply chains and drones can have dual-use applications, other players will need to integrate their own supply chains.
Among the visiting companies is AeroVironment, which supplies Taiwan with over 700 sets of its Switchblade suicide drone. Other members of the delegation include Dedrone, a provider of counter-drone systems, and weapons contractor Northrop Grumman, which has expressed interest in expanding into the Taiwanese market.
Koo believes that integration into US supply chains could help Taiwan overcome export challenges faced by its defense industry due to international pressure from China. With most countries cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan under Chinese pressure, official exchanges have become limited.
Taiwan is home to numerous commercial drone companies but they are significantly smaller compared to those in China. However, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been working towards boosting its drone industry through a “drone national team” initiative. Last month saw private companies such as Taiwan UAV and Coretronic Intelligent Robotics secure defense ministry orders worth $210 million for supplying autonomous platforms including microdrones and ship-borne reconnaissance drones.
While these orders mark progress for Taiwan’s armed forces who previously relied solely on state-run arms development bodies like National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), some experts argue that many promising private firms were left out of these contracts due to lack of capacity-building opportunities.
Koo believes that manufacturing orders from American drone companies could help address this issue by providing scale for domestic drone industry growth while also offering opportunities for international integration into global supply chains.
