Taiwan launches first live-fire exercise with first-person view drones

Taiwan’s army has for the first time used first-person view (FPV) drones against armoured vehicles in a live-fire exercise, adopting tactics pioneered during the Ukraine war to strengthen its asymmetric capabilities against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The exercise on Monday highlighted efforts to broaden strike options beyond traditional firepower such as rocket systems and heavy artillery.

The Army Unmanned Systems Training Command brought together six units from the military’s artillery commands, Marine Corps and Military Police for the exercise.

Under simulated battlefield conditions, operators flew FPV drones carrying armour-piercing warheads against decommissioned tanks and armoured ammunition carriers.

FPV drones – which stream real-time video directly to a pair of goggles worn by the pilot – are usually designed to be more manoeuvrable and acrobatic than other drones, allowing greater accuracy in combat.

The drones conducted frontal and flanking strikes in both single-drone and coordinated two-drone attacks, according to the Youth Daily News, a defence ministry-affiliated newspaper based in Taipei.