Taiwan drone procurement bill: defense minister says KMT's NT$40 billion a year falls short
Taiwan's parliament is fighting over how to fund homegrown drones, and the defense ministry says the opposition's plan sounds big but would not even cover military purchases.
- The KMT bill sets aside NT$40 billion a year for six years — NT$240 billion total — for unmanned vehicles.
- Defense Minister Wellington Koo says the bill defines drones so broadly, covering air, sea, underwater and ground machines, that the money runs out fast.
- Next year's already-approved budget alone puts NT$31.1 billion into drones, including MQ-9B aircraft bought from the US.
- Koo wants the defense ministry, not the economics ministry, in charge of anything military, and the cabinet's rival plan limits spending to three specific sea-drone types.
- The economics ministry says industry support laws already exist and what drone makers really need is steady orders, not another special law.
Outlook: With more than a dozen competing versions on the table, expect drawn-out bargaining over who controls the money and how wide the drone definition goes.