Taiwan coast guard takes delivery of first V-BAT surveillance drones for northern coastal watch

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration has received its first batch of V-BAT vertical take-off surveillance drones and plans to put them into service alongside a new uncrewed surface vessel, as it tries to tighten watch over the waters off the island's northern coast.

Ocean Affairs Council minister Kuan Bi-ling said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, 7 October, that the first V-BAT drones had arrived. She said the aircraft and the MARTAC T-24 uncrewed surface vessel would both join the coast guard's operational fleet.

Inspection with the national security chief

Kuan and coast guard director-general Chang Chung-lung took National Security Council secretary-general Joseph Wu to the coast guard base at Taipei Port on Wednesday afternoon to examine the new systems, according to a coast guard statement reported by the Central News Agency.

The group heard briefings from the manufacturers on the performance and operation of the T-24 and the V-BAT and watched a demonstration using training units supplied by the vendors. They also tried out ship-handling simulators in the coast guard's digital navigation training room at the base.

The V-BAT is made by the American company Shield AI. It takes off and lands vertically, carries electro-optical and infrared sensors for surveillance and can stay in the air for 12 to 13 hours or more, the United Daily News reported.

Gaps on the northern coast

FTNN reported that the coast guard bought the V-BAT to strengthen surveillance of the waters around northern Taiwan. It linked the purchase to two incidents: a Chinese man who sailed a speedboat into Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf in June 2024, and two Chinese nationals who came ashore at Bali beach on the north coast in July this year, two weeks before the Han Kuang 42 exercise, and spent seven days in Taoyuan before they were arrested.

Kuan said the arrival of the drones is part of the third strand of a coast guard modernisation plan built around integrating sea and air forces. The plan covers a next phase of shipbuilding, a full upgrade of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, and the combination of uncrewed sea and air vehicles with artificial intelligence.

The coast guard said uncrewed systems will be deployed on routine duty in the waters around Taiwan, working with its patrol ships to form a joint surveillance network.

National Day line-up

During the same visit Kuan reviewed the coast guard contingent rehearsing for the National Day celebration on 10 October. The coast guard said the contingent will include two assault boats, a MARTAC uncrewed boat, a Jump 20 drone, a mobile radar vehicle and thermal imaging vehicles, grouped around themes of national security, law and order, and public safety.

The V-BAT was not listed among the systems taking part in the National Day display. The coast guard said the uncrewed boat in the parade line-up was built by a contractor working with the state-run National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, while the Jump 20 offers long-endurance, all-weather surveillance.

Adding a long-endurance drone that can launch from a small deck or pad would give the coast guard a way to watch river mouths and beaches between cutter patrols, the kind of gap exposed by the landings it cited.