Taking lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan eyes sea drones vs China

Just off the small Taiwan fishing port of Wushi on its Pacific coast, a Taiwanese company is testing what could eventually be a powerful but unglamorous new weapon in the island's military arsenal—sea drones.

Used to great effect by Ukraine in the Black Sea against Russia, Taiwan is learning lessons on how it could use these low-cost weapons as an effective way to defend against Chinese aggression.

William Chen, chairman of Taiwanese drone maker Thunder Tiger, said last week during a demonstration of the Seashark 800 sea drone that the explosive-packed device, capable of carrying 1,200 kg (2,600 lbs) of explosives and travelling up to 500 km (310 miles), offers an element of surprise.

Next week, Thunder Tiger will be among 12 companies, including Taiwan's Lungteh Shipbuilding and U.S.-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, in a defence ministry exhibition showcasing unmanned surface vehicles, which could eventually be incorporated into Taiwan's arsenal.

Pushed by the United States, Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces to be able to wage "asymmetric warfare," using mobile, smaller and often cheaper weapons which still pack a targeted punch, like sea drones.

The defense ministry's research arm, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, has dubbed the sea drone initiative it oversees the "Swift and Sudden" project, which so far has a modest budget of around T$800 million ($26.77 million).

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up its military pressure over the past five years, including staging half a dozen rounds of war games. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been studying how Ukraine has deployed drones to successfully offset Russia's numerical advantage on the battlefield, enlisting commercial drone companies, including Thunder Tiger, for its efforts.

Ukraine has deployed sea drones not only to attack ships in Russia's Black Sea fleet, which Moscow uses to launch long-range strikes on Ukraine, but also to shoot down aircraft and destroy infrastructure.

Peter Chen, a drone expert and executive director of Taiwan's security think tank TTRDA, said Taiwan is capable of producing world-class sea drones, but must refine its battle strategy to effectively integrate them.

Taiwan's navy, with fewer than 40 warships, is vastly outnumbered by China's naval fleet, with its aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines, though the country lacks combat experience.

China's last successful large-scale amphibious assault was in 1950 when it seized Hainan Island at the tail end of the Chinese Civil War, with troops ferried across on junks.