As China looms, Taiwan makes more drones for defense and the US military
As China looms, Taiwan makes more drones for defense and the US military
面对中国威胁，台湾正为国防及美军生产更多无人机
Taiwan’s existence as a self-governing democracy may depend heavily on having enough military drones to discourage any attempted invasion by China’s military. As the Taiwanese government aims to boost domestic production of military drones and Taiwanese citizens sign up for drone flight training, Taiwanese companies are forming international partnerships to sell more drones to the US military and other overseas buyers. 台湾作为一个自治民主政体，其生存可能在很大程度上取决于是否拥有足够的军用无人机，以震慑中国军队可能发动的入侵。随着台湾政府旨在提升军用无人机的本土产能，且台湾民众纷纷报名参加无人机飞行训练，台湾企业正通过建立国际合作伙伴关系，向美军及其他海外买家销售更多无人机。
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense proposed a special budget that would spend $6.6 billion over six years on buying drones made in Taiwan, according to the Central News Agency that represents the national news service of Taiwan. Presented on June 18, the budget proposal would allow the government to buy more than 208,000 coastal attack drones, along with more than 1,400 coastal reconnaissance drones and 1,320 uncrewed surface vessels, between 2026 and 2031. That would be a significant boost to the Taiwanese military arsenal that currently includes just 5,000 US-made attack drones and domestically produced drones, according to Resilience Media. 据代表台湾国家通讯社的中央社报道，台湾国防部提出了一项特别预算，计划在六年内投入66亿美元用于采购台湾制造的无人机。该预算案于6月18日提出，若获通过，政府将在2026年至2031年间采购超过20.8万架海岸攻击无人机，以及超过1400架海岸侦察无人机和1320艘无人水面艇。据Resilience Media报道，这将大幅扩充台湾目前的军事储备，目前其库存仅有5000架美制攻击无人机及本土生产的无人机。
During military exercises in early June, Taiwanese soldiers fired Altius-600 loitering munition drones—made by a subsidiary of the US military technology company Anduril Industries—from towed flatbed launchers to strike offshore targets, according to USNI News. In another exercise earlier this year, Taiwanese Marines used Taiwan-made drones to similarly strike targets at sea. 据美国海军学会新闻（USNI News）报道，在6月初的军事演习中，台湾士兵使用由美国军事科技公司Anduril Industries子公司制造的Altius-600巡飞弹，从拖曳式平板发射器发射，打击了海上目标。在今年早些时候的另一次演习中，台湾海军陆战队也使用了台湾制造的无人机进行类似的海上目标打击。
Beyond bolstering Taiwan’s national defense, Taiwanese government spending on domestically produced drones could provide a critical boost to Taiwanese drone manufacturers. Some Taiwanese companies, notably Thunder Tiger, have pitched their drone technology and components to the US military and European buyers as alternatives to drones made in China, while also establishing international technology and manufacturing partnerships to pave the way for more exports. 除了加强台湾的国防外，台湾政府在本土无人机上的投入也可能为台湾无人机制造商提供关键助力。一些台湾企业，特别是雷虎科技（Thunder Tiger），已向美军和欧洲买家推介其无人机技术和零部件，将其作为中国制造无人机的替代方案，同时通过建立国际技术和制造合作伙伴关系，为扩大出口铺平道路。
Taiwan has already exported $115 million of fully assembled drones between January and March 2026, exceeding the $93 million in total drone exports for the entire year of 2025, according to Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai in an announcement on April 30. The premier is an appointed principal advisor to Taiwan’s president and leads the executive branch of the Taiwanese government. 据台湾行政院长卓荣泰在4月30日的公告中表示，台湾在2026年1月至3月期间已出口了价值1.15亿美元的整机无人机，超过了2025年全年9300万美元的无人机出口总额。行政院长是台湾总统任命的首席顾问，负责领导台湾政府的行政部门。
The drone business boom
无人机产业的繁荣
Last year, Thunder Tiger’s Overkill drones became the first from an Asian company to qualify for the Pentagon’s Blue Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Cleared List, which certifies commercial drones for use by the US military. The small, first-person view (FPV) drones cost between $3,000 and $5,000 each, according to reporting from Rest of World, and are similar to the many explosive FPV drones being used on the battlefields in Ukraine. 去年，雷虎科技的“Overkill”无人机成为首款入选五角大楼“蓝色无人机系统清单”（Blue UAS Cleared List）的亚洲产品，该清单认证了可供美军使用的商用无人机。据Rest of World报道，这种小型第一人称视角（FPV）无人机每架成本在3000至5000美元之间，与乌克兰战场上使用的许多爆炸性FPV无人机类似。
Thunder Tiger has also started producing larger kamikaze drones starting at $30,000 based on the US LUCAS one-way attack drones, Rest of World reported. The LUCAS drones are themselves reverse-engineered versions of Iran’s Shahed drones that have been used in large numbers by both Russia and Iran. Another one-way attack drone modeled on Israel’s Harpy drone was developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), a Taiwanese state-owned corporation, according to the Taiwanese think tank DSET. 据Rest of World报道，雷虎科技也已开始生产基于美国LUCAS单向攻击无人机、起价为3万美元的大型自杀式无人机。LUCAS无人机本身就是伊朗“见证者”（Shahed）无人机的逆向工程版本，而“见证者”无人机已被俄罗斯和伊朗大量使用。据台湾智库国防安全研究院（DSET）称，台湾国营企业中山科学研究院（NCSIST）也开发了另一种仿照以色列“哈比”（Harpy）无人机的单向攻击无人机。
Taiwanese companies also export plenty of drone components. For example, Thunder Tiger has been supplying drone components to three companies participating in the US Department of Defense’s $1 billion Drone Dominance Program, according to DSET. Taiwanese companies are also directly supplying flight controllers, batteries, motors, and other drone microelectronics to Ukrainian companies, while Czechia and Poland import tens of thousands of Taiwanese drones that may sometimes be passed on to Ukraine. 台湾企业还出口大量无人机零部件。据DSET称，雷虎科技一直在为参与美国国防部10亿美元“无人机主导计划”（Drone Dominance Program）的三家公司供应零部件。台湾企业还直接向乌克兰公司供应飞行控制器、电池、电机及其他无人机微电子产品，而捷克和波兰则进口了数以万计的台湾无人机，这些无人机有时会被转交给乌克兰。
In March 2026, Thunder Tiger even expanded its overseas supply chain by establishing a US facility in Ohio capable of producing more than 60,000 drone motors each year, said Gene Su, general manager of Thunder Tiger, in an IEEE Spectrum interview. 雷虎科技总经理苏圣杰在接受《IEEE Spectrum》采访时表示，2026年3月，雷虎科技通过在俄亥俄州建立美国工厂进一步扩展了海外供应链，该工厂每年可生产超过6万台无人机电机。
Given their focus on hardware manufacturing expertise, Taiwanese drone companies typically turn to US companies and others with more expertise in AI and software. Taiwan’s NCSIST has sought to boost the AI capabilities of its drones by partnering with Western companies such as Anduril, Auterion, and Shield AI, according to DSET. Meanwhile, Thunder Tiger has purchased AI software from Auterion to embed in its broader lineup of drones, ground robots, and sea drones. The Taiwanese company Ubiqconn Technology also recently teamed up with the US drone company AeroVironment—best known for making Switchblade loitering munition drones—to embed AeroVironment’s software into a drone controller platform that would allow the Taiwanese military to operate multiple types of drone systems, Nikkei Asia reported. 鉴于台湾无人机企业专注于硬件制造专长，它们通常会转向在人工智能和软件方面拥有更多经验的美国及其他公司。据DSET称，台湾中科院已寻求通过与Anduril、Auterion和Shield AI等西方公司合作，提升其无人机的人工智能能力。与此同时，雷虎科技已购买了Auterion的人工智能软件，将其嵌入到其更广泛的无人机、地面机器人和海上无人艇产品线中。据《日经亚洲》报道，台湾企业广积科技（Ubiqconn Technology）最近也与美国无人机公司AeroVironment（以制造“弹簧刀”巡飞弹闻名）合作，将AeroVironment的软件嵌入到一个无人机控制平台中，使台湾军队能够操作多种类型的无人机系统。
Rough air ahead
前路坎坷
However, Taiwan’s homegrown drone ambitions face plenty of challenges, including political disagreement. The special budget proposal for Taiwan’s military to purchase Taiwanese drones represents an attempt to break a political deadlock in Taiwan’s Legislature, where the majority consists of the opposition parties Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party. That majority coalition vetoed funding for domestically produced drones before passing a reduced defense budget bill in May. 然而，台湾本土的无人机雄心面临诸多挑战，包括政治分歧。台湾军方采购本土无人机的特别预算案，旨在打破台湾立法院的政治僵局，目前立法院多数席位由国民党和民众党等反对党占据。该多数联盟在5月份通过缩减版国防预算案之前，曾否决了本土无人机的拨款。
Despite having a drone supply chain bolstered by chipmaking and electronics expertise, Taiwan faces an uphill battle in matching the manufacturing output and market dominance of China’s drone industry. The Shenzhen-based drone company DJI alone has between 70 and 80 percent global market share for commercial drones and is known for producing high-quality drones at extremely competitive prices. “For the international market, how do you persuade other foreign governments to use Taiwanese-made drones two or three 尽管拥有芯片制造和电子专业知识支撑的无人机供应链，但台湾在追赶中国无人机产业的制造产量和市场主导地位方面仍面临艰巨挑战。仅深圳无人机公司大疆（DJI）就占据了全球商用无人机70%至80%的市场份额，并以极具竞争力的价格生产高质量无人机而闻名。“对于国际市场，你如何说服其他外国政府使用台湾制造的无人机……”