Taiwan tests sea drones as China keeps up military pressure

A Taiwanese-made sea drone capable of carrying bombs skimmed across waters off the island Tuesday in a display of uncrewed surface vehicles that could boost its military firepower against China.

With Beijing sustaining military pressure on the island, Taiwan is increasing investment in aerial and maritime drones, which have been widely used in Russia's war in Ukraine to outfox traditional heavy weaponry.

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

Twelve local and foreign companies took part in an Uncrewed Sea Vehicle (USV) demonstration hosted by the government's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Yilan, southeast of Taipei.

It was an opportunity for "potential clients such as the military and coast guard" to collect data from the drone manufacturers for future mass production, the institute said in a statement.

Taiwanese shipbuilder Lungteh's Black Tide sea drone, which is designed to operate in "contested environments", was one of three USVs put through its paces.

With a top speed of more than 43 knots (80 kilometres per hour; 50 miles per hour), the Black Tide can be used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and "one-way strike", according to the company.

Meanwhile, Carbon-Based Technology Inc's "stealth" USV could carry bombs and was cheap enough to conduct "sacrificial" missions, said company director Stacy Yu after the drone was tested.

While President Lai Ching-te has pledged to make Taiwan "the Asian hub" for drone production, there have been challenges to ramping up the island's output.

Taiwan's annual production capacity for aerial drones is between 8,000 to 10,000 units, well below its 2028 target of 180,000 units, the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) said in a report on Monday.

High manufacturing costs from using non-China components made it "difficult for Taiwanese products to compete with Chinese-made products in the commercial market," DSET analysts said.

And limited domestic orders and a scarcity of foreign government contracts were also impeding "further scaling" of production, it said.