150 Billion Won Invested, Yet Vulnerable: Taiwan Shaken by Revelations It 'Cannot Block Chinese Drones'

It has been revealed that a drone defense system built by Taiwan at a cost of 150 billion won to prepare for potential Chinese attacks has major flaws.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that an audit report by Taiwan's control yuan revealed serious shortcomings in the fixed drone defense system deployed to protect Taiwanese air force bases and key military facilities.

According to the report, the defense system fails to detect or jam the frequencies used by new drone models operated by China's People's Liberation Army.

It was also found to be unresponsive to certain frequency bands used by China's BeiDou-3 navigation satellite system.

Even though the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan's top weapons development agency, spent 157 billion won to develop the system, these exposed loopholes have sparked concerns over whether it can defend against advanced drones, such as fiber-optic-guided or AI-guided drones.

Furthermore, the audit agency pointed out that construction delays and disruptions in procuring core components have pushed back the inspection of some systems by up to a year behind schedule.

In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense explained that the Chinese technologies cited as revealing weaknesses in the defense system only emerged after 2021, when the development plan for the defense system first began.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense stated, "The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology has confirmed its jamming capabilities against new frequencies and will add jamming functions through future system upgrades," adding that it is also accelerating the development of next-generation drone defense technologies capable of countering new types of drones.

However, the ministry's response has triggered criticism within Taiwan.

Lo Ching-cheng, executive director of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, pointed out, "This project has just been completed, but there is no explanation whatsoever as to when the actual upgrades will take place," adding, "What are we supposed to do if the Chinese People's Liberation Army attacks Taiwan before then?"

Previously, a separate fixed drone defense system procurement project pursued by the Taiwanese Army, valued at 43.9 billion won, was scrapped last month after failing to pass performance tests three times.

(Reported by Kim Jin-woo | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.