Lorenz Meier, the chief executive officer of the U.S.-German defense tech corporation Auterion, visited Taiwan and announced the collaboration with both the state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) by signing a memorandum of understanding, and Thunder Tiger, one of Taiwan’s drone producers. Nikkei Asia and Financial Times interviewed the CEO and cited Drones for Democracy: U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation in Building a Resilient and China-Free UAV Supply Chain, the latest report of DSET, and requested comments from Meier regarding the Taiwan’s drone production capacity, and the impact of the latest U.S.administrative order regarding U.S.-produced drones on the Taiwanese industry.
In the Financial Times’ interview, Taiwan develops suicide drones akin to Ukraine’s to defend against China, it reported the collaboration between Auterion and NCSIST on the suicide first-person view (FPV) drone, planning to integrate advanced drone operating systems and swarm control technology into Taiwan’s military capabilities, specifically with Auterion’s artificial intelligence strike system and camera. Many of the features have been tested against the Russian tanks and naval assets in the Ukrainian-Russian battlefields. In Nikkei Asia’s interview, Lorenz Meier stressed that, “We should assume numbers (needed for Taiwan) that match what we see in Ukraine, which means you start with hundreds of thousands and go into the millions. There is no alternative because drones are the new possession munitions.”
Both Nikkei Asia and Financial Times quoted DSET’s latest report, Drones for Democracy: U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation in Building a Resilient and China-Free UAV Supply Chain, which was released in June. The report estimated Taiwan’s annual production capacity between 8,000 to 10,000 units, and “significant structural challenges persist, as current output remains far below the government’s 2028 target of 180,000 units.”
In reply to Nikkei Asia, Meier stressed the importance of creating domestic demand in larger numbers. He commented that, “I have confidence, based on my conversations with the Taiwanese government, that there is going to be a new iteration of force design planning, taking in the [lessons] from Ukraine and the German, British, and American forces.”
The Financial Times also followed up on the collaboration of production between Auterion and Thunder Tiger, the Taiwanese drone maker. Thunder Tight has agreed to purchase Auterion software licences for 25,000 drones. Meier also confirmed that some of them will be manufactured for export. Thunder Tiger’s general manager, Gene Su, referred to the production capacity of 25,000 units as a “ballpark figure” but confirmed that the company was in talks with several potential export customers.
Regarding the concerns flagged by DSET’s report in June about the recent Trump executive order to prioritize the procurement of domestically manufactured drones, which may undermine the Taiwanese export, Meier responded that, “It’s not that there is a Taiwanese competitor to DJI today that is at the risk of being marginalized. What we’re effectively seeing is a nascent Taiwanese industry.”
Drones for Democracy: U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation in Building a Resilient and China-Free UAV Supply Chain is the latest DSET research based on the interviews with multiple Taiwanese drone experts in the industry, public sector, and academia, as well as major drone makers in the country. It concluded the current challenges and barriers against the development of the Taiwanese drone industry and provided policy recommendations accordingly. On the U.S.-Taiwan collaboration, the DSET report pointed out that Taiwan’s UAV exports to the U.S. market remain limited, and the collaboration remains embryonic, predominantly at the subsystem integration level. It recommends that both Taiwan and international countries expand drone procurement from Taiwan, and there should be further collaboration between Taiwan and the U.S. on collaborative UAV maintenance, production, and design.
