Taiwan's military will start drafting reserve officers and non-commissioned officers again next year, a sign the armed forces are struggling to fill their junior leadership ranks.

• Taiwan plans to bring in 858 conscript second lieutenants and 1,311 conscript sergeants next year to plug gaps in frontline command.
• The move follows the return of one-year mandatory service in 2024, with the first wave of university graduates due to enlist next year.
• Earlier attempts to fill these jobs with volunteers kept falling short, as sign-up rates for the short-course officer program dropped.
• The defense budget also revealed, for the first time, spending on a battlefield tracking system that shares troop locations and drone video on phones and tablets.
• That system gets billions of Taiwan dollars over three years for laptops, tablets, 37,754 phones and routers, and has already been used in disaster relief and major war games.

Outlook: The budget now goes to Taiwan's legislature, where the new conscript officer plan and the tracking system purchase will be scrutinized before funding is approved.