Taiwan turns to US drone boats to track rising mainland Chinese sea activity near island

Taiwan’s coastguard is buying US-designed uncrewed surface vessels for its first dedicated drone-boat programme to strengthen its ability to detect and track the growing presence of mainland Chinese vessels operating around the island.

Florida-based Maritime Tactical Systems (Martac) announced on Tuesday that the deal covered an undisclosed number of its Devil Ray T24 autonomous boats, with production planned for both the United States and Taiwan.

Martac described the deal as “one of the most significant international purchases” of US-made uncrewed surface vessels, while James Lee, chief executive of Confucian, Martac’s Taiwanese partner, described it as the coastguard agency’s “first unmanned surface vessel programme”.

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The procurement follows a sharp increase in mainland Chinese maritime activity around Taiwan, with coastguard, research and other government vessel sightings reaching record levels in June, July and August, according to Taiwanese defence ministry figures analysed by the South China Morning Post.