TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Wednesday urged the military to continue adapting to new changes to remain a modern fighting force.

Taiwan faces rapidly changing regional dynamics and complex, hybrid threats, Lai said at an officer promotion ceremony, according to the Presidential Office. The armed forces must adopt different strategies and ways of training, and embrace new equipment and technology, he said.

The country must accelerate the development of asymmetric capabilities by integrating technological and institutional innovation and leveraging artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, the president said.

Lai’s comments come as Taiwan is working with US tech companies to develop weapons systems and bolster defense capabilities. The National Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology said earlier this month that it plans to use Shield AI’s Hivemind platform to accelerate development of Taiwan’s domestically developed AI flight-control system for autonomous drone missions.

This would enable a single operator at a ground control station to simultaneously monitor and command multiple unmanned systems. 

The Navy plans to procure more than 1,000 attack unmanned surface vessels within the next few years and is developing swarm capabilities. Military officials say that Taiwan could complete and deploy a portion of the attack USVs with operational swarm-control capabilities by the end of 2027.