TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Defense officials from the U.S., Japan, and Taiwan have all made statements refuting reports that Washington and Tokyo would begin sharing real-time drone data with Taipei, following reports made last week.



On Wednesday (June 7), the Financial Times published an article with the headline “U.S. to link up with Taiwan and Japan drone fleets to share real-time data.” In the week since, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), Japan’s Ministry of Defense, as well as Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) have all denied the claims, reported Stars and Stripes.

In August 2022, it was reported the U.S. approved Taiwan’s purchase of four MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones, to be made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. It was reported in early May that the SkyGuardian drones would be delivered to Taiwan by May 2025.



According to the Financial Times report, the drones will be linked to the same satellite system that the Pentagon shares with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces when operating the MQ-9 reconnaissance drones.

Shortly after the Financial Times article was published, Taiwan’s MND tweeted that it had no knowledge of plans for data-sharing related to the MQ-9 drones. Then on July 9, Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu (浜田靖一) flatly denied the reports.

On Wednesday (June 14), a spokesperson for the U.S. DOD, Martin Meiners, told Stars and Stripes that there are currently no plans for the Pentagon to facilitate MQ-9 data-sharing between Taiwan and Japan.