TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Legislators have frozen a budget for MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones as the military’s storage plans could leave the four drones vulnerable to attack, reports said Saturday.

The unmanned aerial vehicles from General Atomics in the United States cost a total of NT$21.72 billion (US$665.61 million). Delivery has been scheduled for 2026 and 2027, the Liberty Times reported.

However, when lawmakers reviewed the related budget for 2025, they discovered that the four drones would be stationed inside one hangar. This would allow the enemy to attack and destroy the drones in one fell swoop, they said.

The legislators decided to freeze NT$500 million of the NT$10.39 billion until the Air Force presented a report with an acceptable solution for the problem. Not only were the UAVs expensive, but all the peripheral installations, including the control center, landing strip, repair hangars, and satellite car parking areas had to be built from scratch, according to Kuomintang Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君).

Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) also expressed surprise when he heard the Air Force say the four drones would be stored inside one single joint facility, leaving them vulnerable to an enemy attack. The legislators said each SkyGuardian should at least have a separate hangar of its own, reducing the risk of total destruction.