Taiwan holds first joint drill using multiple attack drones in modernisation push

• Taiwan conducted its first joint combat drill using multiple types of attack drones, reflecting a push to modernise its military amid rising threats from China.
• The exercise included launches of domestically developed Hsiung Feng III missiles and Lockheed Martin HIMARS rockets, highlighting precision firing to test weapon effectiveness.
• President Lai emphasised Taiwan's confidence to defend sovereignty and integrate the Coast Guard into defence plans for regional peace and stability.

TAIPEI – Taiwan’s military carried out its first joint combat exercise using multiple types of attack drones this week, in what President Lai Ching-te said on Sept 18 showed how the armed forces were adapting to the needs of modern warfare.

Lai has made defence modernisation a key part of his agenda given the rising threat from China, including developing drones and both in the war between Ukraine and Russia and also in the Middle East, and Taiwan has been keen to learn lessons from those conflicts for its contingency planning.

Lai said the military is accelerating its combat capabilities to show Taiwan “has the confidence and capability to defend national sovereignty and fulfil its responsibility for regional peace and stability”.Lai was accompanied on his visit not only by Defence Minister Wellington Koo and other senior security officials, but also by Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the Coast Guard.The government has been working to better integrate the Coast Guard into overall defence planning, given it would have an auxiliary role to the navy during a war.

During Taiwan’s https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/taiwan-holds-first-joint-drill-using-multiple-attack-drones-in-modernisation-push