Indo-Pacific — 2026-07-21

Taiwan President Pushes $6.6 Billion Attack Drone Plan Including 208,000 One-Way Strike Drones

BLUFTaiwan's 208,000-drone procurement plan is unlikely to clear the legislature before October 1 under Defense Ministry control, leaving large-scale domestic production unfunded while the KMT-TPP majority holds.

President Lai Ching-te visited NCSIST's Taichung facility on July 17 and called on the legislature to approve a NT$210 billion (roughly $6.5-6.6 billion) special budget for domestically produced drones, including 208,200 one-way attack drones, 1,446 reconnaissance drones and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels 12. Lai said the legislature's May decision to cut NT$470 billion from his original NT$1.25 trillion defense package removed funding for drone development entirely, leaving only money for US arms purchases 23. Opposition parties KMT and TPP have filed competing bills that would place drone development under the Ministry of Economic Affairs rather than the Defense Ministry, an arrangement Lai called misguided 23. NCSIST officials told a Legislative Yuan hearing on July 16 that the navy has received 150 Mighty Hornet I loitering munitions, with another 150 expected in the second half of the year, and that the Mighty Hornet IV strike drone, developed with Kratos, can hit targets 621 miles away 13.

Analysis
Legislative approval of the NT$210 billion drone budget under Defense Ministry control before October 1 is unlikely: KMT and TPP hold the same majority that stripped drone funding in May and have now formalized rival bills shifting oversight to the Ministry of Economic Affairs rather than accepting Lai's model, hardening a funding dispute into a jurisdictional one. High confidence rests on this entrenched, publicly documented opposition with no legislator signaling reversal, though reporting converges on a single news cycle from non-primary outlets rather than independent threads. The rival bills may reflect a genuine industrial-policy preference for economic-ministry-led supply-chain support rather than an attempt to block military funding outright. Continued deadlock caps NCSIST's Mighty Hornet production and the 208,200-drone plan near current pilot batches, leaving opposition-controlled ministries a competing acquisition channel if the budget stalls.

3 sources

Taiwan President Pushes $6.6B Attack Drone Plan - USNI News
Lai Urges Taiwan Lawmakers to Approve $6.5 Billion Military Drone Plan - The Epoch Times
Lai urges quick drone budget approval - Taipei Times