Taiwan's coast guard to show drone and unmanned boat in first public outing as it plans air-sea overhaul

Taiwan's coast guard will show an aerial drone and an unmanned surface vessel to the public for the first time at the National Day celebrations on Saturday, in what the Ocean Affairs Council called the largest coast guard contribution to the event since the service was created. Council minister Kuan Bi-ling said on Thursday, 8 October, that the new systems are the visible front of a three-part overhaul meant to give the force an integrated air and sea surveillance capability.

Kuan accompanied National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu to the coast guard base at Taipei Harbor on Wednesday, 7 October, to inspect equipment and parade preparations. The coast guard contingent will include two assault boats, one Martac unmanned boat, one AeroVironment Jump 20 drone, a mobile radar vehicle and an infrared thermal imaging vehicle, grouped under three themes of national security, public order and public safety to match the event's theme of resilience and solidarity.

Three projects

Kuan said the coast guard's next phase rests on three projects: a new shipbuilding programme, a full upgrade of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems with AI-assisted decision-making, and the introduction of unmanned vehicles. She presented the package on social media under the slogan of an integrated air-sea, elite coast guard.

Chang Chung-lung, the coast guard's director-general and a deputy minister of the council, said the Jump 20 and the Martac T-24 would be used mainly for long-range search and reconnaissance and for rescue far from shore. Pairing air and sea drones, he said, would extend the reach of patrols and build a three-dimensional joint surveillance picture that ties together national security, law enforcement and search missions.

Kuan singled out the Jump 20's high-altitude surveillance, saying it can watch criminal groups without being easily noticed, which helps in large drug cases. AeroVironment specifications cited by Taiwan News give the vertical take-off drone an endurance of more than 13 hours at up to 17,000 feet and an operating range of about 185 km. Taiwan News, citing the Liberty Times, said AeroVironment supplied the type to the coast guard in 2022.

Demonstration at Taipei Harbor

During Wednesday's inspection the officials watched a joint demonstration of the Martac T-24 boat and a Shield AI V-BAT vertical take-off drone, Taiwan News reported, citing a council press release. According to Martac figures in that report, the T-24 has an 8.4-metre hull, a burst speed of more than 50 knots and a range of up to 600 nautical miles, can launch smaller T-12 drone boats and is built to keep operating through signal interruption.

The coast guard told China Times that the unmanned systems will gradually be used as a routine part of patrols in the waters around Taiwan, working with existing patrol vessels and shore-based sensors to build an all-weather surveillance and law-enforcement network. The paper said one of the unmanned boats on show was built in cooperation with the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan's main military research body. A Jump 20 had already appeared at a parade rehearsal on Tuesday, Taiwan News reported.

Grey-zone backdrop

The announcement came on the same day the coast guard responded to a Reuters report that a Chinese maritime militia vessel had been spotted off Taiwan's east coast for the first time in August, sailing with a Chinese coast guard ship and a research vessel. The coast guard said it uses joint surveillance to track Chinese vessels around Taiwan around the clock, that the ships concerned stayed outside Taiwan's restricted waters, and that it monitored them throughout.

The council will follow the parade with an international maritime security conference at the Taipei International Convention Center on 14 October. Speakers are due to include retired US Navy Admiral Dennis Blair, retired Japanese Admiral Takei Tomohisa and retired Royal Navy Vice Admiral Duncan Potts, who will discuss grey-zone harassment, maritime coercion and resilience.