Legislator Inspects Unmanned Systems Command Center, Chen Guan-ting Hopes for Drone Legislation with Supporting Measures

(CNA) - A delegation from the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee visited the Army's Unmanned Systems Training Command today. Convener Chen Guan-ting, a legislator from the Democratic Progressive Party, stated that drone legislation should be based on the actual needs of the military. If the bill only discusses budget scale or procurement quantities without simultaneously addressing operational systems and institutional support, it will be difficult to form deployable combat power in a short period.

The Executive Yuan passed the "Special Act for Procurement of Unmanned Vehicles for National Defense Autonomy" draft on the 18th, allocating a special budget with a ceiling of NT$210 billion. Procurement items include coastal surveillance drones, coastal attack drones, and small suicide unmanned boats. When the Legislative Yuan addressed reports on the 26th, the Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party caucuses proposed tabling the motion, which was passed by a majority vote.

Legislators from the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee inspected the Army's Unmanned Systems Training Command this morning. Convener Chen Guan-ting, who scheduled this inspection, stated through a media group this afternoon that the purpose of the visit was to understand the military's unmanned vehicle training, operational use, command and control integration, and future military development needs, serving as an important reference for the Legislative Yuan's subsequent review of unmanned vehicle-related budgets and legislation.

Chen Guan-ting mentioned that he observed the operation and exercises of various unmanned vehicle models, such as the ALTIUS-600, and learned about the demonstration and application of the Team Awareness Kit (TAK). He emphasized that the key to unmanned vehicles is not simply purchasing more drones; what truly determines combat power is the real-time sharing of tactical data, the integration of command and control systems, the rapid transmission of intelligence, and the swift synergistic operations between different branches of the military and different types of vehicles on the battlefield.

Regarding the Kuomintang's proposal for drone-related legislation, Chen Guan-ting said that any effort to invest more resources and support Taiwan's development of drone combat power is a positive direction. He stressed that the content of the legislation should still be based on the actual needs of the military. Whether through a special act or other legal frameworks, thorough discussions should be held with the Ministry of National Defense, the Executive Yuan, and frontline military development units to ensure that budget allocation, procurement systems, and industrial policies complement each other, avoiding discrepancies between proposed versions and actual military development needs.

Chen Guan-ting stated that the development of unmanned vehicles involves not only equipment procurement but also tactical operations, training systems, logistics and maintenance, intelligence transmission, communication links, command and control integration, and the domestic industrial supply chain. If the legislation only discusses budget scale or procurement quantities without simultaneously addressing operational systems and institutional support, it will be difficult to form deployable, maintainable, and scalable actual combat power in the shortest possible shortest possible in the shortest possible time. (Editor: Lin Hsing-meng) 1150629)