Overview
- Taiwan’s military held three days of exercises that concluded on Friday, Sept. 18, and for the first time integrated multiple types of attack drones with conventional strikes that included domestically made Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles and U.S.-made HIMARS rockets.
- President Lai Ching-te described the drills as part of a defence-modernisation drive to pair unmanned systems with traditional weapons, and his office confirmed the milestone while not naming the specific drone types used.
- Taipei plans further live drills next week that will include newly purchased HIMARS rocket systems and Stinger missile simulators to test integration and crew training under operational conditions.
- The timing links the exercises to the U.S.-China agenda, with the Sept. 24 summit between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping expected to cover U.S. arms sales to Taiwan after a planned $14 billion package was postponed in May.
- Officials have been moving the Coast Guard into wartime support roles by equipping cutters with anti-ship weapons, a step that extends Taiwan’s layered defence but may raise diplomatic and military tensions with Beijing.