AIBRIEF
Two locally built strike drones loitered above a Zuoying beach during Han Kuang, the first public showing of a medium range strike drone at Taiwan's annual war game.
Two fixed-wing, propeller-driven strike drones loitered about 30 minutes above a beach near Zuoying on Saturday during Taiwan's Han Kuang exercise, the first time the mid-class drone has appeared at the annual drill. The locally built aircraft were provided by Taiwan's Armament Bureau to the navy "for testing purpose," a navy spokesperson told reporters, declining to comment on specifications or whether the design was influenced by wars in Ukraine or the Middle East.
The drones flew during a coastal combat drill simulating an attack on Zuoying, home of Taiwan's largest naval base, roughly 295 km (183 miles) from mainland China. Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) designs and produces the vast majority of the island's homegrown weapons.
Bryce Barros, a visiting fellow at the Taipei-backed Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the push for medium-range drones "fits into things that Taiwan has learned from Ukraine," where similar fixed-wing drones have hit Russian supply lines 30 to 300 km behind the front. But Barros expects Taiwan's version to target slow-moving troop and weapons transports crossing the strait rather than the air defenses and trucks Ukraine's drones strike on land, since the Taiwan Strait's bad winds and volatile sea states demand a different airframe.
The drones were not shown attempting an attack, and it is unclear whether the designs are final. Barros pegs the intended range at roughly 40 to 60 km, an analyst estimate the navy has not confirmed.