Drones are now an important asset in battlefields as it was shown in the current warfares in Gaza and Ukraine. Consequently, Taiwan is making efforts to build a fleet of drones to improve its defenses. One ironic problem occurs: The majority of efficient and cheap drones are made in China. It is Taiwan´s biggest threat.

It is clearly visible to the whole world how drones were useful in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army showed how important these aerial vehicles by holding off the Russian army and their equipments. This experience leads Taiwan to do the same, especially that China claims that the self-governed island is a part of their territory and can use force to claim it back, which means that a conflict between the sides can ignite in any moment.  

Based on Ukraine´s acquired experience in drone operations, Taiwan has been studying its defenses and trying to adapt some of its approaches and tactics, starting with partnerships with private companies to build ‘’a national drone team´´.  

Taiwan´s Defense Ministry proposed an initial $175million sum -roughly €160 million- to prepare 3200 drones in the next five years, a sum that needs to be increased quickly as Ukraine uses around 10000 drones a month.  

Ukraine´s military relies heavily on Chinese drone giant Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) instead of US made drones as they are expensive and glitchy. Taiwan cannot follow the same way by buying DJI drones, not only it represents a threat, but also an opportunity for Chinese military to hack any drone used by Taiwan´s army.  

DJI has already been banned in the US since 11 September this year. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) launches a new grant program to accelerate the replacement of all Chinese drones or Chinese affiliated companies due to their safety risk. Manufactured in the USA, NDAA & TAA compliant and Blue sUAS approved, the Parrot ANAFI USA GOV drone is growing in its sales in the USA and Europe.  

What is happening with DJI now? Company answers that DJI is also not a military company, and it does not have ties to the Chinese military.  Being first mover advantage, DJI drones supply an agriculture industry in US. DJI M350 RTK drone remains the product-of-choice across industries because of the combination of reliability, innovation and cybersecurity. We will continue to monitor the situation with DJI in the US.  Let’s come back to the situation in Taiwan.

Taiwan´s challenge has never been technical. The small island has the ability to build its own drones, but the problem is the quantity and low cost, something that only China excels at. DJI dominates three-quarters of the world´s drone market due to China´s big drone industry that produces components in low prices in comparison to other producers. The need for big quantity needs low prices.

Alongside Taiwans´s challenge to prepare an army of drones, they are also investing in antidrone program (see our article about Sentrycs). An incident that happened on the outlying island of Kinmen made it crucial to prepare antidrone programs when a Chinese drone flew over Taiwanese soldiers camp. After that incident, Taiwan collaborated with local radar-technology company Tron Future to develop a counter-drone system aimed to stop the Chinese drones.

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