TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) said at a legislative session Tuesday that the Army formed drone battalions in three of Taiwan’s combat operational zones last month.
The move comes as the Army is also forming drone units on the east coast.
The Taitung Area Command will disband and reorganize its armored cavalry company, which had primarily focused on intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, to form a drone squadron. Its tanks, armored infantry fighting vehicles, and reconnaissance vehicles will be reassigned to a newly established combined arms battalion.
The Hualien Defense Command will also establish a drone squadron while retaining its armored cavalry companies because of defense requirements at the Air Force’s Chiashan base. Military officials said the two armored cavalry companies primarily conduct reconnaissance and security training during peacetime, according to Liberty Times.
During the legislative session, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) emphasized that Taiwan must continue purchasing drones in the future, otherwise the military would end up with “units without equipment,” per Liberty Times. Taiwan has not yet received Altius-600, coastal surveillance, coastal attack, and Altius-700 drones from the US, Koo said.
During this interim period, the battalions will continue using training drones.
Koo said that although portable counter-drone systems were not included in the special defense budget, the military would review other options. He noted that counter-drone operations involve both active and passive measures and are not limited to a single type of equipment.
Camouflage, concealment, and dispersed deployment would also be employed, he said.
The Army’s drone training center was established last January and was upgraded to an Unmanned Systems Training Command that April, Liberty Times reported.
Koo said the new command is responsible for education and training, testing and evaluation, and research and development, primarily for ground-based unmanned systems.
Chen added that before the reorganization, the drone training center only handled instructor and operator training. After being upgraded into a command, it established a drone warfare research and development office.
A testing and evaluation center was also formed to create standards for drone units, he said.
