Per Ukraine, Taiwan boosts maritime drone production

Taking a page from Ukraine’s naval warfare playbook, Taiwan aims to ramp up the production of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to fend off a possible Chinese invasion.

This month, the South China Morning Post reported that Taiwan is looking at adopting Ukraine’s use of USVs as a cornerstone for asymmetric drone warfare tactics in the event of a Chinese invasion.

SCMP notes that Ukraine’s relative success in the Black Sea, with USVs exacting a heavy toll on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, is an inspiration for Taiwan’s military planners.

The report says USVs would serve as one of Taiwan’s several asymmetric weapons should the PLA Navy conduct an amphibious assault on the island. It notes that these drones would primarily target incoming warships or those near the island’s coastline, as Taiwan’s relatively small and obsolete warships cannot take on far more advanced adversaries.

In line with that, SCMP says that Taiwan’s USV industry has kicked into high gear, with the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) initiating a US$25 million, two-year “unmanned attack vessel” development program, with the production of at least 200 vessels anticipated to start in 2026.

As for the specifications, SCMP says that the USVs weigh less than four tons, measure under 10 meters in length, have a half-meter draft and are remotely controllable from a distance of up to seventy kilometers. It notes that the Taiwanese army would operate them for suicide attacks against PLA-N ships.

SCMP says that Taiwan’s private sector is involved in this effort. It mentions that last year, Thunder Tiger Corporation unveiled its Seawolf 400 unmanned submarine and Shark 400 USV prototypes, capable of carrying strikes with various