Taiwan to form fleet of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to patrol its coastline

Taiwan’s defense budget draft for 2019 discloses the island nation’s plans to deploy combat-ready armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to protect its coastline. Tabled to the island’s Legislative Yuan, the budget details the prioritization of tactical reconnaissance and armed drones to deter enemy forces on beachheads and coastal areas. The fleet of future UAVs mostly will be domestically produced. They will include Tengyun long-range UAVs developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, as well as anti-radiation missile (ARM) drones being developed as part of Project Jiansiang, according to the ministry. The Tengyun drones have four weapon mounts compatible with the U.S.-made AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles. Such weapons are used primarily for precision strikes at targets within a range of 0.5 to eight kilometers. The new ARM drones of Taiwan can destroy an adversary’s radar systems, or the platforms on which they are installed.