Taiwan's Drone Blitz: A Response to China's Threats

Inspired by Ukraine's successful use of drones in its war with Russia, Taiwan is launching a drone blitz to counter China's overwhelming drone arsenal. Taiwan currently lags behind China in drone capabilities, with only four types of drones and a fleet size of just "hundreds" compared to China's arsenal of over 50 drone types and tens of thousands of drones. Under the "Drone National Team" program, Taiwan is recruiting commercial drone makers and aviation firms to fast-track the building of a self-sufficient drone supply chain. The aim is to build over 3,200 military drones by mid-2024. Taiwan's strategy is to rely on a large number of smaller, mobile, and lethal weapons systems to deter China, rather than acquiring a small number of vulnerable big-ticket weapons.