Republic of China Army Receives First ‘Kamikaze’ Drones From U.S.: Can They Threaten the Mainland?

The Republic of China Army hasreceived its first batch of Altius-600M loitering munition systems from the United States, with Minister of National Defence Chiu Kuo-cheng meeting with the founder of the aircraft’s producer Anduril Industries, Palmer Luckey, in Taipei. Chiu noted that the drones provided an immediate combat capability, and would strengthen the Republic of China Army’s ground-based strike and defensive capabilities. The delivery on August 4 occurred just days after the Anduril Industries has signed a memorandum of understanding for direct collaboration with the Republic of China’s top defence research institute the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, covering cooperation in areas that include autonomous systems and the Lattice AI-enabled command and control platform. Founded in 2017 by former defence officials, Anduril Industries focuses on the development of artificial intelligence and robotics for the Pentagon, and is expected to significantly further ties with the Republic of China Armed Forces.

The Altius-600M is a loitering munition with an advanced multi-mission capability, and combines a very light 12-kilogram airframe that makes it man portable, with an endurance of up to four hours allowing it to strike targets up to 400 kilometres away. This range allows it to strike targets on the Chinese mainland, which is particularly important due to the Taipei-based Republic of China government’s ongoing state of civil war with the rival People’s Republic of China government based in Beijing. Although both claim to be the sole legitimate Chinese governments, and the United States, United Nations and the vast majority of the international community recognise only the government in Beijing, the U.S. and countries across the Western world have nevertheless strongly sided with the Republic of China. The supply of the Altius-600M is one consequence of this support.

The importance of single use drones has recently been highlighted by their use in the Russian-Ukrainian War, with their value having led Russia to invest tremendously in large scale manufacturing capabilities to emerge as the world’s leading producer. Western officials have expressed frustration that Western production of such aircraft remains limited to a much smaller scale, and is considered far less cost effective. The Republic of China Armed Forces’ reliance solely Western suppliers has thus been a major shortcoming in efforts to strengthen its drone capabilities with a limited budget for arms procurements. With the mainland’s People’s Liberation Army having emerged as a world leader in drone and counter-drone technologies, including anti-drone laser weapons, the effectiveness of the relatively modest drone fleet which the Republic of China Armed Forces will be able to procure remains in question.