Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan has passed a bill allocating a 6-year budget for unmanned systems, including drones and unmanned surface vessels.
However, the bill’s passage alone does not confirm budget execution or equipment procurement.
Taiwan’s defense concept depends not only on how many weapons it acquires, but also on whether it can pass annual budget reviews.
3-Line Summary
1. Taiwan’s parliament has passed a 6-year unmanned-systems budget plan
2. The plan allocates 400억 Taiwan dollars each year
3. Countersignature by the premier and promulgation by the president remain
2400억 Taiwan Dollars Over 6 Years, with Annual Reviews
On August 27, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a bill to foster the unmanned-systems industry and strengthen national defense capabilities, including drones and unmanned surface vessels. The bill amounts to 2400억 Taiwan dollars over 6 years, with 400억 Taiwan dollars allocated each year in the annual general budget.
This followed the passage of a regular budget bill led by the opposition after the special budget bill worth 2100억 Taiwan dollars submitted by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party government was rejected. The total is 300억 Taiwan dollars larger than the government’s proposal, but it differs from a structure in which funds are bundled and executed all at once, as with a special budget. The necessary budget will undergo review by the Legislative Yuan each year.
The government’s proposal focused on procuring approximately 21만 units by 2031, including coastal surveillance and attack drones and small, expendable attack unmanned surface vessels. By contrast, the bill passed this time created a framework to support both defense procurement and industrial development.
Two Steps Remaining After the Bill’s Passage
This decision does not yet confirm implementation. Under Taiwanese law, the measure takes effect only after the premier’s countersignature—that is, the procedure of jointly signing the bill—and promulgation by the president.
Premier Cho Jung-tai stated that he would carefully consider the nation’s needs and security without revealing whether he would countersign the bill. Accordingly, it has not yet been determined when the 6-year budget framework will actually lead to what kind of unmanned-systems procurement.
The bill passed prioritizes the purchase of unmanned systems produced in Taiwan while also allowing imports from foreign countries if necessary. The intent is to provide Taiwanese companies with stable order volumes and build a supply chain that does not depend on Chinese-made components.
Drone Budget Targets Asymmetric Defense
Taiwanese military authorities are focusing on cases in the Ukraine war and the Iran war in which drones helped offset disadvantages in military strength. The concept is to build asymmetric defense by dispersing forces across multiple locations so that some can be preserved after an attack, while increasing the cost of an invasion for the adversary with relatively inexpensive weapons.
DSET, a Taiwan government-supported research institute, reported that Taiwan’s drone exports exceeded 8만5000 units during the first two months of this year. However, it explained that a substantial portion of the exports consisted of low-cost small drones and did not represent volumes under long-term procurement contracts, meaning that increased exports do not necessarily indicate expanded production capacity for military drones.
Local concerns have also emerged that delivery of the 102 Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles Taiwan is scheduled to receive from the United States this year could be delayed. With uncertainty over the supply of air-defense weapons, the key issue in this bill is not the size of the drone budget but whether predictable procurement will actually continue each year.
References
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