Taiwan’s Disposable Drones Tempt Europe, U.S.

Taiwan is investing money and diplomacy in offering an alternative drone supply chain for the United States and other countries seeking to avoid strategic dependency on China. Its efforts are paying off. From January to March this year, Taiwan’s assembled drone systems exports reachedUS $115 million, already surpassing the full-year 2025 total of US $93 million, Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai revealed at a Cabinet meeting in late April.

“As global demand for non-China supply chains increases, Taiwan is well positioned to expand into international markets, creating dual opportunities in domestic demand and exports, with the industry projected to reach a target output of NT $40 billion (US $1.27 billion) by 2030,” Cho said at the meeting.

In 2025, the industry’s total output, including components. modules and parts, reached 12.9 billion Taiwan dollars (US$409 million in 2025), more than 2.5 times the previous year’s total. Exports of complete drones grew even faster, climbing to 2.95 billion Taiwan dollars (US $93 million in 2025)—a 21-fold increase year on year, according to the Cabinet, the Taiwanese government’s executive branch. More than 267 Taiwanese companies are involved in the drone system integration and component supply chain, Cho said.

Modern warfare is creating new business opportunities in the drone industry, increasingly focused on low-cost, expendable systems for short-duration missions, as conflicts in Ukraine and the Strait of Hormuz demonstrate drones’ widespread use in surveillance, targeting, and low-cost strikes, often integrated with satellites, cyber tools, and electronic warfare to enable faster, more distributed, and real-time operations.

To strengthen Taiwan’s drone industry and enhance supply chain resilience, the government plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US $1.4 billion) by 2030. It is also supporting the development of core components and system architecture, including chip modules for flight control, communications, and satellite positioning, as well as key flight and ground control software systems.

Taiwanese firms make U.S. inroads

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly viewed as expendable, high-volume systems designed for rapid production and replacement rather than long-term durability. Taiwan’s Thunder Tiger Corporation recently presented its FPV strike drones and “Papa Delta” concept to foreign media in April in central Taiwan. Gene Su, general manager of Thunder Tiger, told IEEE Spectrum that the unit price of the Papa Delta drone is expected to be set from US $30,000 to US $100,000, depending on configuration such as size, range, and mission requirements. He said that in contemporary conflicts, “what really matters for drones is low cost and repeatability.”

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) added Thunder Tiger’s FPV loitering munition drone, the Overkill, to the Blue UAS Cleared List, the first Asian system it has ever included. In addition, Thunder Tiger supplies three U.S. partners among 11 companies DoD selected for its Gauntlet I program, securing a US $8 million contract.

In March, Su says, the company also established its first manufacturing facility in the U.S., a drone motor production line in Ohio with an annual capacity of 60,000 to 120,000 units, bringing Taiwanese engineering into the U.S. industrial base to support both defense and commercial demand, while aligning with U.S. supply chain localization efforts.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Chuang, president of the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), said drone hardware is evolving quickly in response to customer demand. At an April briefing for foreign media, she stressed a shift from single-platform systems toward multi-drone coordination, with greater emphasis on resilient communications and shared control functions.

Drone diplomacy: Europe and the U.S.

Taiwan has used its UAV industry to deepen security-oriented partnerships with like-minded democracies, including European countries and the U.S. At a Taiwanese–German aerospace conference in early May in Taipei, Zhen-Wei Chiang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted Taiwan’s advantages in addition to being an alternative to China, including competitive costs, advanced IC, and electronics integration, rapid development cycles, and strong information security. “We aim to position Taiwan as the Asian center for democratic drone supply chain,” he said.

An April study by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology in Taipei examined Europe’s response, finding a sharp rise in Taiwanese drone exports to Europe—from 2,574 units in 2024 to 107,433 in 2025. Shipments were concentrated in countries such as Poland and Czechia, and are increasingly incorporated into European procurement and logistics systems supporting operations in Ukraine.

European countries have long reported increased Russian “hybrid warfare” against EU and NATO members, including drone incursions into European airspace. In response, a January 2026 European Parliament report urged stronger countermeasures and called for developing a more self-reliant EU drone industry. In April, at a closed-door discussion in Taipei, European defense industry representatives said warfare has changed significantly, with drones now playing a more central role than traditional artillery. They highlighted closer cooperation between governments and industry in Europe and Taiwan as a key priority for strengthening production capacity and security capabilities.

The Pentagon’s proposed US $75 billion investment in unmanned systems is an explicit call for non-Chinese drone suppliers. In March, the U.S. Congress introduced bipartisan legislation to expand UAS cooperation with Taiwan, aiming to strengthen security amid China’s increasing pressure and supply chain dominance.

Premier Cho noted that Taiwan will continue refining its unmanned systems governance framework. The government plans to establish additional drone testing sites for different types of drones and help firms obtain certifications required in Western markets. A key component of this effort is the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which works with the U.S.-based Green UAS program as its first non-U.S. cybersecurity testing and evaluation partner.

Domestic demand in Taiwan is also boosting the drone industry. According to a presentation Chiang gave at a 5 May conference, Taiwan’s civilian demand is at least 50,000 drones by 2030 while by 2033 its defense demand will be more than 200,000 drones.

On 8 May, Taiwan’s opposition-led legislature approved a reduced NT $780 billion (US $24.8 billion) defense package, replacing the government’s original NT $1.25 trillion (US $40 billion) proposal for 2026–2033. The revision cut several key initiatives, including funding for drone procurement and unmanned combat capabilities, AI-enabled operational decision-making systems, and some Taiwan-U.S. joint defense projects. Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee

that Premier Cho had directed the defense ministry to seek other measures, including supplementary or expanded annual funding, for the excluded programs.