At the DSET 2026 Summit on Supply Chain Resilience, Panel 4, “Taiwan–U.S.–Ukraine Cooperation on Drone Supply Chains,” was moderated by Cathy Fang, Policy Analyst at DSET The panel featured Gene Su, General Manager of Thunder Tiger Technology; Alexander Chang, East Asia Director at Anduril Industries; Andrii Ordynovych, Director of Strategic Development at the Free Ukraine Foundation and former Defense Attaché at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States; Molly Campbell, Research Assistant with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS); and Artur Savchii, Analyst at the Snake Island Institute.
DSET: International Cooperation Critical Amid Domestic Procurement Constraints
Cathy Fang reviewed developments in Taiwan’s drone industry over the past year, focusing on progress and outstanding challenges across procurement, exports, certification, and technology cooperation, as well as Taiwan’s evolving partnerships with international actors.
On exports, Fang reported that Taiwan exported approximately 123,000 drones in 2025, while exports in the first quarter of 2026 alone reached 139,000 units, with the majority destined for Ukraine via Poland and the Czech Republic. Despite this growth, Taiwan’s capacity to scale remains constrained by domestic procurement uncertainty, limited access to foreign government procurement markets, reliance on foreign technologies for critical components, and continued dependence on Chinese-sourced inputs such as battery cells and motors.
Fang identified international cooperation as the central pathway to addressing these constraints. With the United States, priorities include expanding Taiwanese firms’ inclusion on the Blue UAS List and advancing co-production initiatives mandated under the FY2026 NDAA. With Ukraine, cooperation should focus on supply-chain integration, battlefield-informed operational exchanges, and co-production of long-range drones and interceptors. With Europe, Taiwan should reinforce existing supply-chain partnerships, institutionalize cooperation through official EU instruments, and expand opportunities for co-production and co-development.
Thunder Tiger: Expanding U.S. Opportunities and Product Development
Gene Su remarked that in the face of the current stagnation in domestic drone procurement due to budget circumstances, Thunder Tiger will shift its focus to the international market and has already secured orders from the US government. Its “Overkill” drone was added to the U.S. Blue UAS Cleared List last October, and the company and its U.S. partner placed in the top 11 of Phase 1 of the U.S. “Drone Dominance” program. It will also participate in the second gauntlet of the US DDP, continuing to strive for orders from the United States. Additionally, President Su stated that, “in terms of supply chain, they have been investing for the past 10 years” from modules to everything beyond, with a growing focus on sea drones and delta-wing loitering munitions. He shared innovations that address bottlenecks, describing an aluminum-stamping technique adapted from the automotive industry that overcomes the slower, layer-by-layer limits of composite manufacturing. Noting that 90% of the world’s motors are made in China, he added that Thunder Tiger has set up a “Made in USA” motor line in Ohio. For control systems, AI, and anti-jamming, he mentioned that Thunder Tiger works closely with partners in the U.S., Israel, and Ukraine.
Anduril: Deepening Cooperation with Taiwan’s Suppliers, Talent, and Industry
Alexander Chang, Managing Director of Anduril’s East Asia Division, outlined the company’s products and recent unmanned systems cooperation initiatives with Taiwan. Firstly, he explained that Anduril builds systems across every domain—from space to undersea to the electromagnetic spectrum—fused through its open Lattice command-and-control platform, which has the ability to integrate both Anduril’s own data and third-party sensor data to accelerate decision-making and quicken kill chains. In Taiwan, over the past year, the company has added 15 local suppliers, increased direct procurement by 15 times, hired 8 local employees, and integrated its Lattice command and control platform with existing systems in Taiwan. For these sourcing initiatives, Anduril buys motors, printed circuit boards, and other precision-machined parts—praising local firms for their responsiveness and prototyping. He stated that Anduril’s objective in Taiwan is to team up on larger systems and make Taiwan’s military so advanced that the cost to a PRC invasion is too high for them to take any action against Taiwan. For Foreign Military Sales (FMS), he claimed Anduril could fully deliver systems by 13 months after the contract signature. He finished by pledging that Anduril will continue to expand its investment and hiring in Taiwan, including both business and engineering positions.
Ukrainian Freedom Fund: Scale, Innovation, and Societal Resilience Drive Success
Andrii Ordynovych, Director of Strategic Development at the Ukrainian Freedom Fund and former military attaché at the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States, described Ukraine’s experience of asymmetric warfare, relaying advice from “one small nation facing aggression from a much larger neighbor to another”. He emphasized that the use of low-cost interceptors against enemy drones has made the quantity of systems extremely important for a prolonged defense. He also stressed the significance of constantly iterating tactics and training. He recommended that Taiwan develop software for situational awareness—like Ukraine’s Battlefield Management System (BMS) DELTA that handles real time data and creates a Common Operational Picture (COP). Alongside that, he believes autonomous systems and counter drone systems will be essential for Taiwan’s security in the future. In the end, he offered three key lessons to Taiwan. First, quantity matters and necessitates modular stockpiles. Second, innovation and speed of adaptation—both for unmanned technology and its doctrine of application—are vital for survival. Lastly, technological and societal resilience depends on thorough training, good leadership, clear communication, and a ‘Whole of society” based approach to conflict. Closing with the message “outnumbered, but undeterred,” he suggested that Taiwan and Ukraine could deepen ties through business-to-business cooperation and NGOs to work around diplomatic constraints.
CNAS: Taiwan Should Expand Cooperation with Ukraine and Europe
Molly Campbell, a research assistant at the Center for a New American Security ( CNAS ) specializing in defense programs, described her co-authored research with director Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn on a “Hellscape for Taiwan.” This drone-based asymmetric strategy lays out a concept of operations that divides the defense of the Taiwan strait into four layers beginning roughly 80 kilometers from Taiwan’s coast. It uses long-range drones, uncrewed surface and underwater vehicles, sea mines, and FPV drones to progressively deplete a Chinese landing fleet from the outer layer to the beachhead. Describing low-cost, modular uncrewed platforms as “the ultimate asymmetric weapon,” where Taiwan could utilize them in self defense rather than relying on exquisite US systems. She warned of overreliance on U.S. systems to fill 100% of Taiwan’s industrial UAV gaps, adding that—amid recent uncertainty over procurement from the United States due to its focus in the Middle East—cooperation with Ukraine and Europe has become all the more critical. Finally, she stressed that the “Hellscape for Taiwan” report is meant as a starting point to open an unclassified conversation with Taiwan’s population on the utility of drones and present more operationalization questions to the military and industry.
Snake Island Institute: 77% of Ukrainian Firms Seek Alternatives to Chinese Components; Taiwan a Key Partner
Artur Savchii, an analyst at the Ukrainian think tank Snake Island Institute, pointed out that there is complementary cooperation potential between Taiwan and Ukraine. Ukraine needs a large number of components from Taiwan, while Taiwan can benefit from Ukraine’s combat experience and related designs. He further explained that Ukraine’s defense-tech output reached US$12 billion in 2025, with more than four million drones produced annually, supported by mechanisms such as the Brave1 innovation fund, e-points combat-based procurement, and an “80/20” procurement model—where 80% of procurement is devoted to technology that has already proven efficient and 20% is for emerging technologies or new companies that have not been tested yet—that Taiwan could study. He observed that more than 95% of Ukrainian manufacturers still use Chinese components, but around 77% want to phase them out—making this the first major opportunity for cooperation: Ukraine needs large volumes of Taiwanese microelectronics such as battery cells, printed circuit boards (PCBs), chips, and carbon fiber among other things. In return, he noted, Ukraine could offer battlefield-proven designs, combat-driven demand, strategic tactics, and a testing environment. He affirms this with a statement that “even a brick flies on the proving ground”, underscoring that while many drones look advanced, they may prove ineffective in real combat.
Q&A: Compliance, Non-China Supply Chains, and the “Hellscape” Strategy
The panel’s Q&A session drew questions on compliance, procurement, and cooperation.
Asked about the most critical compliance and contractual risks facing their companies, Gene Su replied that ensuring components are non-Chinese is the top priority, creating a tension between high cybersecurity requirements and cost-effectiveness, a challenge compounded in the United States by FCC “non-red” rules on telecom modules; Alexander Chang added that the biggest hurdle is the traditional procurement process, where the two-plus years from contracts to delivery often leaves systems outdated—something Anduril is addressing through modular hardware and software designs, while simultaneously working on rapid-acquisition pathways.
On whether the “Hellscape” concept departs from Taiwan’s overall defense strategy and why it begins 80 km out, Molly Campbell responded that 80 km—drawn from a RAND analysis—is roughly where the invasion fleet becomes most vulnerable, though uncrewed systems still have roles closer to shore.
Asked whether the “80/20” model could work in peacetime, Artur Savchii noted it is harder to decentralize procurement before a war, since centralization is simpler, but that it proves its worth once fighting begins; Andrii Ordynovych added that it remains workable in peacetime under legal certification requirements, where no distinction should be drawn between domestic and foreign suppliers—what matters most is capability.
On institutional cooperation for whole-of-society defense, Ordynovych pointed to flexible B2B ties, NGO involvement, and academic and student exchanges.
Asked about Anduril’s three-to-five-year plans, Chang affirmed the company would invest “aggressively,” hiring manufacturing engineers, sourcing, software, and program staff.
Finally, on the most important lessons for Taiwan, Ordynovych stressed the value of a strong defense industrial base, while Savchii emphasized that “Ukraine’s value is far more than hardware,” pointing to the hundreds of military experts Ukraine sends to share combat experience.
