President 
Lai Ching-te inspected the Army Unmanned Systems Training Command in Tainan on September 11 and pledged that the government would keep investing in research, training and force building for unmanned vehicles. The command is located in Baihe, Tainan, Liberty Times reported, and Lai called developing unmanned vehicles important to strengthening Taiwan's defence resilience and raising its asymmetric capabilities.
Why does the president say drones matter? From the Russia-Ukraine war to conflicts in the Middle East, technology is rapidly changing the battlefield, Lai said in remarks reported by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA). Drones help troops grasp battlefield information faster and carry out reconnaissance, surveillance and precision strikes, he said, and combining unmanned systems with command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, firepower and the various services and branches is changing how units fight. Although drones are called "unmanned," the key to combat power is still people: good equipment needs operators who know how to use it and how to coordinate with other units on the battlefield, he said.
What is the next stage for the command? Beyond training operators, the command must turn battlefield experience, unit needs and new technology into tactics and capabilities the armed forces can actually use, Lai said. The next stage, he said in remarks carried by CNA, is to move from "building training capacity" to "verifying combat capability." It is not enough to count how many operators are trained or sorties flown, he said; what matters more is whether personnel, back in their units, can complete missions in complex electromagnetic environments and combat scenarios and coordinate with other branches and combat systems. Skills learned and tactics built today may soon need adjusting in the face of new countermeasures, he said.
How will new systems be brought into service? The defence ministry is taking up emerging technologies through small-batch testing and actual use by units, confirming they meet needs before gradually expanding their use, Lai said. For new equipment to become combat power, he said, it must start from operational requirements, with procurement, training, doctrine and testing working together and problems found and corrected through actual operation. Taiwan has its own terrain, environment and defence needs, he said, and must absorb the latest lessons from battlefields abroad, turning them through repeated training and adjustment into unmanned-system tactics that fit its defence. The state will back the troops so they can deliver the combat power expected of them, Lai said.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
