Taiwan's defense ministry has expanded drone procurement sixteenfold to 48,000 units from an initial 3,000, testing domestic manufacturers' ability to rapidly scale production amid heightened military tensions with China.
Taiwan's push to decouple its drone supply chain from China is yielding significant results. Drone exports from the island surged more than sevenfold in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with Poland and the US emerging as top buyers, government data showed.
The global counter-drone systems market is projected to reach US$14.32 billion by 2032 as small unmanned aerial vehicles transform modern warfare, driving demand for detection and neutralization technologies among military and security agencies worldwide.
The idea of building a spaceport in Taiwan has gone from quiet speculation to a buzzworthy headline after the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) posted a futuristic rendering on its social media. The image sparked a wave of excitement, with some already imagining rockets soaring into space from the island's skies. However, enthusiasm may be outpacing reality.
More than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, peace remains out of reach—and fears of another flashpoint are growing in the Taiwan Strait. With backing from the US, Taiwan is stepping up its military readiness, extending mandatory conscription, and increasing defense spending to sharpen its asymmetric warfare capabilities.
On July 24, 2025, Taiwan's first domestically developed optical remote sensing satellite constellation, Formosat-8 (FS-8A), completed full functionality testing following a series of rocket and space environment verifications. This indicates the satellite has passed all validation steps and is ready for launch.
Taiwan is renewing its efforts to bring Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service to the island, as the Executive Yuan approved a sweeping six-year NT$27 billion (approximately US$923 million) investment in next-generation communications technology last week. The plan aims to attract at least three international low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations by 2030, and Starlink, the world's largest LEO provider, is once again in the spotlight.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense disclosed two previously unreported unmanned aerial vehicles during the recent Han Kuang 41 military exercise, underscoring the increasing use of commercially developed drones in military operations. The revealed models consist of a small quadcopter intended for urban reconnaissance and a fixed-wing drone designed for extended ground-based surveillance missions.
Taiwan's Ministry of Defense has launched a massive drone procurement drive, planning to purchase 48,000 military-grade commercial drones over the next two years—a 16-fold increase from its previous 3,000-unit order that challenges local manufacturers to rapidly scale production.
Taiwan-based Auden Techno Corp., a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) antenna solutions, broke ground on a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam's Hải Dương Province on July 21, 2025, underscoring the company's efforts to expand global production capacity and reinforce its international supply chain resilience.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed on social media on Monday that the US and Taiwan are in talks over a potential spaceport collaboration — a move that could one day make suborbital travel between Houston and Taiwan a reality in just 2.5 hours.
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