TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Drone cooperation between Taiwan and Japan is growing as Tokyo strengthens regional security partnerships and removes restrictions on defense exports, according to Nikkei Asia.
Over the last six years, 15 agreements have been signed, Nikkei Asia said, citing data from Taiwan’s Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology.
Signatories include the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance, Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Japan UAS Industry Development Association, and the Japan Drone Consortium. The agreements cover “supply chain and technology development, disaster prevention, emergency response, autonomous flight testing and application deployment,” according to Nikkei Asia.
7A Drones, a Chiayi-based company, finalized two deals with Japanese companies this year: one with AlterSky on large-scale logistics drone development, and another with Autonomy HD on integrating a Taiwan-Japan drone industrial supply chain and developing autonomous drones.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced a plan last September to produce 80,000 Japan-made drones by 2030 to strengthen its supply chain resilience. It is focused on collaboration with “like-minded countries” on motors, batteries, communication modules, and flight controllers, per Nikkei Asia.
“In this context, Taiwan's demonstrated reliability and production capacity in drone motors and batteries in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, combined with its cost competitiveness within a 'non-red' supply-chain, make it a suitable partner for helping Japan secure stable supplies of key components for Japanese-made drones,” Hung-Yuan Teng, a policy analyst at Taiwan’s Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), told Nikkei Asia.
However, Teng noted there was a long way to go as Japan “has long lagged in mass production capacity and domestic content in its drone industry, and has yet to develop a large-scale industrial ecosystem.”
“This makes it difficult for Taiwanese companies to find suitable counterparts for technology cooperation, component supply, or joint participation in government tenders on either side,” he said.
Taiwan exported 45 drones to Japan in 2025, while Japan exported only three to Taiwan. Meanwhile, Taiwan delivered more than 120,000 drones to countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and the US, according to DSET data.
Katsuya Yamamoto, strategy and deterrence program director at the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said, “I believe there is substantial potential for cooperation between Japanese and Taiwanese private companies to deepen rapidly,” per Nikkei Asia. He stressed that this would start at the civilian level instead of from the government.
A top foreign defense industry leader, who declined to be named, echoed Yamamoto’s comments, saying, “Both sides are likely to lean on NGOs and industry associations to catalyze cooperation as opposed to direct government-to-government engagement.”
“It is likely that we'll start to see delegations moving back and forward between Taiwan and Japan to promote development and the possible consummation of partnerships,” he added.
