By Tim Mahon
Tron Future, prime contractor for Taiwan’s National Drone Defense programme, is predicting significant and imminent series production of indigenous C-UAS systems to counter perceived threats from China, the company announced in July.
Inspired in part by a ramp-up in the regional threat perception and governmental study of events in Ukraine in the last year or more, Taiwan has given new impetus to the programme, and to an adjacent project, the National Drone Programme, in which nine Taiwanese companies are actively pursuing drone-centric solutions.
In the counter-drone field, the thinking centres on both jamming solutions and interceptor drones. If the enemy send in “hundreds of drones all at once, we need to be able to identify them and assign missions,” said Tron Future’s CEO, Wang Yu-jiu. The company’s AESA radar-based T.Radar Pro technology is already in service with the Taiwanese army, and offers a drone detection range of up to 5km and a low 15kg system weight. At IDEX in the UAE earlier this year, Yu-jiu suggested a production rate of up to 100 counter-drone radars per month could be in prospect, according to media sources at the time.
Chinese penetration of the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone has already occurred on at least two separate occsions this year, according to government sources, and the perception is that such incursions are likely to continue. Taipei is therefore committing additional resources to the two allied programmes identified above and suggesting a focus on autonomous swarm technologies. Observers close to the National Drone Programme believe the government’s vision is to procure in excess of 3,000 military drones by mid-2024.
“This is a war of technology” said Wang.
For more information
Inspired by Ukraine war, Taiwan launches drone blitz to counter China | Tron Future 創未來科技
(Image: Taiwan has increased funding and support for two allied drone and counter-drone development projects. (Image via Thunder Tiger Group and Taiwan Presidential Office.)
