Taiwan announces big increase in defence budget for 2023, drone development a new bright spot – BBC News 中文

At the same time, in the middle of this month, Taiwan’s “Asian UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center” was inaugurated in Chiayi County in the south. During the unveiling ceremony, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that the international situation is changing rapidly. In order to actively improve Taiwan’s “asymmetric” combat capability, the drone industry will be the focus of future development.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry’s budget for next year is about NT$415.1 billion, accounting for 1.7% of Taiwan’s GDP. It also said that the preparation of the overall defense budget “must comprehensively consider the threats of the enemy, the needs of defense operations, the plan for the construction of the military, and the government’s finances.”

However, Dr. Su Ziyun, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense Security Research, a think tank affiliated to the ministry, told the Taiwanese media “Liberty Times” that the annual defense budget compiled this time is still insufficient. Su Ziyun said that if the defense budget of South Korea (South Korea) accounts for about 2.8% of GDP and Singapore’s 3.2%, “If the personnel maintenance fee, operation maintenance fee, and military investment are compiled in the same amount according to actual needs, the defense budget should reach 4,800 yuan. more than 100 million yuan, and move closer to the target of 3% of GDP as soon as possible.”

He added: “The threat of the current enemy situation is quite immediate and obvious, and the government should make increasing the defense budget a priority. If the full budget is not invested in time, it may incur more ‘time costs’ and create greater risks.”

Based on the information of Taiwan media and the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, the budget of the Ministry in recent years, excluding the special budget, and the annual growth rate are as follows:

In this budget, special mention is made of “asymmetric warfare”. It can be said that since February this year, Ukraine’s performance in resisting the invasion of the military power Russia has made “asymmetric warfare” a new focus in the global defense community, including Taiwan’s review of its own defense policies. Among them, the outstanding “drone” is one of the highlights.

In the past few days, on Weibo, a social networking site in mainland China, this week, rumors began to spread that it was a PLA drone shot of a guard post of soldiers in Kinmen, an outer island of Taiwan. The photo quickly sparked heated discussions in Taiwan.

According to Taiwanese media reports, the two Taiwanese soldiers standing at the post in the photo were clearly captured by drone footage. Many public opinion in Taiwan criticized why the Taiwan Army did not issue an order to expel or shoot down the drone.

In the face of public criticism, the Taiwan Army Kinmen Defense Command recently confirmed that the background of the photo is that on the afternoon of August 16 this year, a “civilian drone” was found in a military camp on Erdan Island, Kinmen, Taiwan. Tossed, disrupted, and the drone flew away.”

But the incident has caused uproar in Taiwan. Some Taiwanese scholars suggested that in addition to using drones to interfere or shoot away drones, it is also recommended to set up passive defense “air defense balloons”, which should be deployed at different heights according to the characteristics of terrain and defense zones to counter low-altitude attacks. drones or other small flying vehicles.

Jie Zhong, a researcher at the Taiwan-China Strategic Foresight Association, told Taiwanese media that since Matsu and Kinmen Island are on the front lines, rashly firing on drones may have a knock-on effect. He therefore believes that since it is a civilian drone, the Taiwan military should try to interfere, and at the same time, it should develop or outsource measures to interfere with the drone as soon as possible.

In any case, this incident has once again highlighted the importance of drones in the military.

According to Taiwan’s official media Central News Agency, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense’s 2022 budget has mentioned that it will build a remote-controlled drone defense system in 45 military camps across Taiwan within four years.

The budget stated, “In order to prevent drones, a remote-controlled drone defense system will be established for bases (ports) and airports; in addition, important agile camps such as outlying islands, independent camps, mountain platforms, and missile positions will be protected against invading camps according to the scope of the camps. The unmanned aerial vehicle can carry out reconnaissance and interference, and improve the base, flight safety maintenance and wartime defense combat capabilities.”

At the same time, Taiwan has also set up a “UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center” in Chiayi County, which was officially listed in August this year. When Tsai Ing-wen went to the opening speech, he specifically mentioned that taking the Ukraine campaign as an example, drones have become one of the new cores of future military weapons. She hopes to actively expand the application level of UAVs and accelerate the development of military and civilian technology development goals.