Taiwan Drones Weekly News Roundup: November 2 - 8, 2026

Taiwanese and foreign makers of uncrewed boats demonstrated in Tainan this week as the military prepares to buy more than 1,300 one-way attack USVs. Thunder Tiger was the only Taiwanese company to run a boat in the harbor. Navy budget documents fund 32 of NCSIST's Albatross II drones and two counter-drone gun turrets for the Marines, and Shield AI, which is raising the Taiwanese share of its V-BAT supply chain, agreed to buy radar maker Echodyne. Thunder Tiger also qualified in all six categories of the government's NT$1.05 billion joint drone contract, and two Taiwanese firms signed with Ukrainian partners. Here's the week.

1. Sea-drone makers compete in Tainan for Taiwan's USV program

AFP via Yahoo Finance — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article · 自由時報 (Liberty Times) — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article · Radio Taiwan International — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article · TVBS — Nov. 3, 2026 · Read article

The first MATURE Taiwan marine technology and uncrewed vehicle expo opened in Tainan on November 2 with live demonstrations in the harbor, followed by a three-day exhibition with about 66 Taiwanese and 22 foreign exhibitors, 17 of them from the US. Taiwan's military has said it wants 1,320 one-way attack USVs, more than 1,400 coastal reconnaissance drones and over 200,000 coastal attack drones. TVBS reports the first USV tender could open as early as the end of this year. A DSET policy analyst told AFP that Taiwan's USV procurement is the largest in the world. Three companies ran boats in the harbor. US-based STR8 Industries showed its Ghostwake, designed in the US and built in Taiwan. Maritime Tactical Systems showed the boat the Coast Guard has ordered for co-production in Taiwan, covered in our October 12-18 roundup. Thunder Tiger ran its SeaShark 600 under its own control software. It says the same hull can take a US AI autonomy system instead and uses US-made Mercury propulsion. Thunder Tiger said it will enter the proof-of-concept round for the military's program, which it put at about 1,400 boats and NT$30 billion, once the ministry opens it, and that quantities and budget depend on the official notice. Underwater vehicles came from New Taipei's AwareOcean and Singapore's BeeX. Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and AIT Director Raymond Greene attended the opening. Hsiao called for linking sensors, communications and AI command across space, land, sea and underwater, and for co-development and local production with US and European partners. AFP reported that Taiwan's shipbuilders can build sea-drone hulls but buyers want foreign systems with combat-tested software, and analysts raised unresolved questions about getting different drones to work together and operating without Starlink.

2. Navy budgets for Albatross II; Marines to buy counter-drone gun turrets

Asian Military Review — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article · Taiwan News — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read article

Navy budget documents set aside NT$52.78 billion for two drone programs, Asian Military Review reports. NT$36 billion is for the 280-aircraft VTOL program covered in our October 19-25 roundup, for which Shield AI says it will bid (item 3). The other NT$16.78 billion, spread over 2026 to 2029, buys 32 of NCSIST's Albatross II (Rui Yuan II) medium drones, eight control stations and 48 transport vehicles. The Albatross II has 16 hours' endurance, a control range of more than 300 km and a maritime search radar, and can carry sonobuoys or loitering munitions. It finished testing years ago but had no production order, reportedly for budget reasons. During development, NCSIST told lawmakers it had made a supplier replace a Chinese-made communication module and SD card found when parts arrived. Separately, Taiwan News, citing the Liberty Times, reports that a navy budget document lists NT$93.12 million for two automated gun turrets for the Marines in 2027. Each pairs radar and electro-optical tracking with a 30mm chain gun to destroy drones out to 1 km. The requirements include tracking three targets at once, telling drones from birds, recognizing a drone at 2,500 meters with 80 percent accuracy, delivery within 240 days of signing, and NT$100 million kept available for upgrades.

3. Shield AI to buy Echodyne as it raises its Taiwanese sourcing

Shield AI — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read release · INSIDE — Oct. 2026 · Read article · 經濟日報 (Economic Daily News) — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article

Shield AI said on November 5 that it will buy Echodyne, a Washington-state maker of counter-drone radars, in a deal valued at US$5.3 billion. It is raising US$2.5 billion to pay for it, including US$1 billion in Series H funding at a US$28.8 billion valuation, US$1 billion from Blackstone-managed funds and US$500 million in debt. Echodyne's radars are built into counter-drone systems used in more than 40 countries, and its new plant in Kirkland, Washington, is rated at about 30,000 radars a year. The deal is expected to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The release does not mention Taiwan. In Taiwan, Shield AI delivered the first of 12 V-BATs to the Coast Guard in October, with AIDC handling local maintenance and training, as covered in our October 12-18 roundup. At a Taipei briefing in October, president Brandon Tseng said about 16 percent of V-BAT hardware now comes from Taiwanese suppliers, mainly circuit-board assembly and electronic components, up from under 1 percent in 2024. The target is 25 percent, and Tseng named composites as the next area, citing AIDC's experience. The company has placed its first international supply-chain engineer in Taichung and grown its Taipei office from one person to 11 in a year, with plans for about 20. Thunder Tiger said this week that it completed multi-vehicle autonomous sea trials with Shield AI on its SeaShark boats in July. Shield AI sells to Taiwan through direct commercial sales rather than the US foreign military sales process, Tseng said, so delays in US arms sales have not affected its business here.

4. Thunder Tiger qualifies in all six categories of the government's joint drone contract

中央社 (CNA) — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read article · 經濟日報 (Economic Daily News) — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read article · Taiwan News — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article

Thunder Tiger said on November 5 that it qualified in all six categories of the joint supply contract the Bank of Taiwan's procurement department ran for the Interior Ministry and eight other ministries: training, aerial photography, basic inspection, advanced inspection, long-range surveillance and transport. Fifteen companies bid and ten qualified. Thunder Tiger was the only one in all six; the next qualified in three, and seven qualified in one each. Thunder Tiger was one of two in the advanced inspection category. The contract was awarded on October 16 with a ceiling of NT$1.048 billion for an estimated 5,920 drone sets. The ceiling is the most agencies can order in total, not a guaranteed order. Government agencies, schools and state enterprises order from qualified vendors in each category over a one-year period or until the ceiling is reached, and vendors in the same category compete for those orders. Myson Century's subsidiary Yong-Sheng qualified in the training category, as covered in our October 12-18 roundup. Thunder Tiger said its flight controllers and ground control stations are developed in-house, cited its 2024 Blue UAS clearance and said its key components come from US and allied suppliers. It said a plant of about 7,000 ping (about 23,100 square meters) at Chiayi's Dapumei Industrial Park and its aluminum boat yard are under construction. The contract covers the same civilian agencies the Align case reached last week. Taiwan News reports that the immigration agency's contract for 30 Align-made drones went to reseller Su Yuan Technology, and the Interior Ministry has said all government drone purchases must meet non-red supply chain requirements.

5. Taiwanese firms sign with Ukrainian partners; Dutch talks under way

AIN.UA — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read article · Focus Taiwan — Nov. 4, 2026 · Read article · Radio Taiwan International — Nov. 5, 2026 · Read article

Ukrainian drone maker WinFly and Taiwanese boatbuilder Fortmosa are developing an uncrewed boat that carries interceptor drones, according to a WinFly press release reported by AIN.UA. Fortmosa, which builds workboats with high-density polyethylene hulls, designs the boat and builds the prototype. WinFly fits the autonomy system, communications links, launch equipment and drones, plus passive radio-frequency detection and day-and-night optical tracking. The boat is meant to guard harbors and coastlines and intercept aerial targets from the water. The two showed a concept and models at the Taichung Smart Manufacturing Show in early October. WinFly says the boat is aimed at Ukrainian needs and there are no export plans yet. In Taipei on November 4, AerosoarX chairman Max Lo signed a memorandum with UFORCE, a Ukrainian maker of uncrewed systems and command software; Sean Plankey, CEO of UFORCE's US arm, signed for the company. The agreement sets up a framework for UFORCE to use Taiwanese manufacturers as alternative component suppliers. At his company's launch, covered in last week's roundup, Lo argued for spreading production across several countries. In both deals the Taiwanese side supplies hulls or components rather than complete systems, which is the role EU content rules leave open to Taiwanese suppliers in European and Ukrainian programs. Taiwan's representative to the Netherlands, Tien Chung-kwang, told CNA that several Dutch high-tech firms are in talks with Taiwanese counterparts on drones, with Taiwan offering chips, communications and precision machining and the Netherlands designs proven in Ukraine. The Netherlands is set to host the EU's drone and counter-drone technology center and has pledged about €250 million for a drone production line with Ukraine.

6. Envoy to the Philippines to lead GUAVA; foreign ministry's drone task force to merge into it

Taipei Times — Nov. 2, 2026 · Read article

Lee Ting-sheng (李廷盛), Taiwan's deputy representative to the Philippines and a retired air force lieutenant general, is to return to Taiwan as chief executive of the Global UAV Academy (GUAVA), a source told the Taipei Times. The foreign ministry's Drone Diplomacy Task Force, which matches foreign buyers with Taiwanese suppliers, would be merged into GUAVA under Lee. GUAVA opened formally on October 30 as a privately funded body, as covered in last week's roundup. Lee is a former deputy commander of the air force and deputy chief of the general staff for communications, electronics and information. In Manila he worked on coast guard and law enforcement contacts between Taiwan and the Philippines. The appointment has not been officially announced.

That's the week. Watch for the opening of the military's USV proof-of-concept round, the first agency orders under the joint drone contract, and whether Lee's appointment at GUAVA is confirmed.