To repel any future Chinese invasion, Taiwan is building fleets of flying drones and unmanned attack boats.

为抵御未来可能发生的中国入侵，台湾正在打造大规模的无人机和无人攻击艇编队。

The goal is to use them to help locate and attack Chinese forces approaching the island, relying on Taiwanese soldiers trained to move quickly before China can strike them. U.S. commanders who developed this strategy call it a “hellscape”: overwhelming an invading force with waves of drones, missiles and artillery, and making an amphibious assault so risky that China’s leaders are deterred from trying.

其目标是借助这些装备协助发现和打击向该岛逼近的中国军队，依托经过快速机动训练的台湾士兵，在中国发动打击之前抢先行动。提出这一战略的美国指挥官将其称为“地狱景象”：以一波又一波的无人机、导弹和火炮压倒入侵部队，使两栖登陆风险大到足以令北京领导层望而却步。

Inspired by lessons from Ukraine and other recent war zones, Taiwan is now accelerating efforts to put that strategy into practice.

受乌克兰及近期其他战区经验的启发，台湾目前正在加快将这一战略付诸实践的步伐。

“Our drone and counter-drone efforts started relatively late, and initially we were trying things out as we went along,” Lt. Gen. Huang Wen-chi, the director general of strategic planning for the Taiwanese Defense Ministry, told a committee of lawmakers on Wednesday. That has begun to change over the past two years, he added.

“无人机跟反制无人机系统的这个部分，事实上我们起步是比较晚的，所以在初期的时候，我们基本上是一个边试边走的状态，”台湾国防部战略规划司司长黄文启中将周三对立法院的一个委员会表示。他还说，过去两年里，这种情况已开始改变。

On Thursday, Taiwan’s military allowed reporters to watch as troops in central Taiwan practiced using drones for reconnaissance, as part of the island’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, which began on Wednesday and will run for 10 days.

周四，台湾军方开放媒体前往台湾中部，观摩部队在年度汉光演习中开展无人机侦察的训练。此次演习于周三开始，将持续10天。

Maj. Gen. Lu Wen-yuan, who helped plan the exercises, said earlier that they would also train troops to take out enemy drones.

参与此次演习筹划的陆军少将吕文远此前表示，演习还将训练部队如何摧毁敌方无人机。

台湾官员注意到乌克兰在战场上凭借无人机取得的战果，并立志将台湾打造为无人机产业强国。

Many militaries across the world are embracing the drone revolution, but Taiwan faces a particularly urgent threat: China, which is roughly 110 miles away, claims the self-governed island as its territory. Chinese leaders say they want to absorb Taiwan peacefully, but will not rule out using force. They are backing that threat with expanding fleets of warships, planes, missiles and drones, as well as more frequent coast guard patrols and landing exercises.

世界各地的许多军队都在积极投入无人机革命，但台湾面临的威胁尤其紧迫：中国距离台湾大约180公里，北京声称对这座自治岛屿拥有主权。中国领导人表示希望实现和平统一，但不排除使用武力。他们正通过不断扩充的军舰、飞机、导弹和无人机编队，以及更加频繁的海警巡逻和登陆演习来抵抗这些威胁。

Taiwanese officials have noted Ukraine’s drone-driven gains on the battlefield, and they are trying to emulate Ukraine’s David-versus-Goliath approach: using relatively cheap and nimble drones to level the playing field against a much larger adversary.

台湾官员注意到乌克兰在战场上凭借无人机取得的战果，并试图效仿乌克兰以弱胜强的思路：利用相对廉价灵活的无人机与规模远大于自己的对手较量时扳平劣势。

“Drones are entering a new chapter,” said Max Lo, the chairman of the Taiwan National Drone Industry Association. “Taiwan, for its own survival and national defense, is in urgent need of these drones. But it’s the same everywhere in the world right now — that’s an opportunity for Taiwan.”

“无人机又进到新的一个篇章，”亚洲无人机创新产业园区厂商协进会理事长罗正方表示。“台湾为了自己本身的生存，也为了这个国家的防卫，急着需要有这些无人机。但是全球其他地方也都一样。对台湾而言，这个也是一个机会。”

Aiming to make the island a drone industry superpower, the government says it wants Taiwan to make 100,000 drones a month by 2030, with around half exported. It also wants the military to acquire over 210,000 flying and seaborne drones.

台湾政府希望把台湾打造成为无人机产业强国，并表示计划到2030年每月生产10万架无人机，其中大约一半用于出口。台湾还希望军方采购超过21万架无人机和无人艇。

Taiwan has “realized that drones will be important in all the domains, in all the phases,” in a potential war with China, said Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general who has studied Ukraine and Taiwan.

曾深入研究乌克兰和台湾的澳大利亚退役少将米克·瑞安表示，台湾已“认识到，无论在哪个领域、哪个阶段”，无人机都将在与中国可能发生的战争中发挥重要作用。

Ukraine’s recent success at longer-range drone strikes suggests that Taiwan could also attack ships leaving Chinese ports if Beijing launched an amphibious assault, said Mr. Ryan, now a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

现任悉尼洛伊研究所高级研究员的瑞安指出，乌克兰近期在远程无人机打击方面取得的成果表明，如果北京发动两栖攻击，台湾也可以利用无人机攻击从中国港口出发的船只。

China’s army is not yet strong enough to easily invade Taiwan, many experts believe, and recent purges in the People’s Liberation Army’s high command have undermined its readiness. But like Taiwan’s military, it has been building up fleets of crewless planes and boats, and is investing heavily in technology to detect and jam drones.

许多专家认为，中国军队目前尚不具备轻松入侵台湾的实力，而解放军高层近期的大清洗更是进一步削弱了其战备状态。但与台湾军队一样，解放军同样在扩充无人机和无人艇编队，并投入大量资金研发探测和干扰无人机的技术。

“Remember, the Chinese are also watching everything the Ukrainians are doing,” Mr. Ryan added.

“别忘了，中国人也在密切观察乌克兰人正在做的一切，”瑞安补充说。

A Long Road to Mastering Drones

掌握无人机作战的漫长之路

For Taiwan, acquiring the drones may be the straightforward part. To master drone warfare, Taiwan must also retool its military organization, training and doctrine. It must learn to operate swarms of drones, rapidly assess and share the intelligence they provide and prevent an enemy from disabling them, according to experts. This will require troops to be more mobile and self-sustaining.

对于台湾来说，采购无人机或许反而是相对简单的一步。要真正掌握无人机作战，台湾还必须重新调整军队的组织架构、训练方式和作战理念。专家表示，台湾必须学会如何操作无人机蜂群，快速评估和共享无人机提供的情报，同时防止敌方让这些无人机失效。这将要求部队具备更强的机动性和自我保障能力。

“The army’s frontline military operations must undergo a total change from the past,” said Shu Hsiao-Huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, which is supported by Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. “In the Russia-Ukraine War, if you fire one round, you won’t have a chance to fire a second, if you just stay lined up there without moving on,” he said.

“现在陆军前线作战的方式必须是一个完全不同于以往的作战方式，”具有官方背景、位于台北的国防安全研究院副研究员舒孝煌说道。“在俄乌战争中，你能够打得出一发，不会有（机会打出）下一发——如果是一直排开，完全不动。”

Unlike Ukraine, though, Taiwan lacks the pressure of an actual invasion to mobilize resources and force changes. “It’s very difficult, because they haven’t experienced the crucible of war,” Mr. Shu said.

不过，与乌克兰不同，台湾并没有实际入侵的压力来调动资源、推动变革。“很难，因为他们还没有真正经历战争的洗礼，”舒孝煌说。

But military units have been working to learn drone tactics, which are a focus of the continuing Han Kuang exercises.

不过，各军事单位一直在努力钻研无人机战术，这也是正在进行的汉光演习的重点内容之一。

汉光演习期间，台湾军队演练使用无人机进行侦察。

The Taiwanese army also released pictures from a drill last month in which a unit scrambled to defend islands off Taiwan’s east coast by using drones to hunt for enemy forces. On Saturday, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, watched an exercise in the island’s south where troops tested two types of prototype drones designed to strike invading forces.

台湾陆军还发布了上个月一次演习的照片，照片中一支分队在台湾东岸离岛紧急布防，利用无人机搜寻敌军。上周六，台湾总统赖清德在台湾南部观摩了一场演习，部队在演习中测试了两款用于打击入侵力量的无人机原型。

Taiwan also recently created a Littoral Combat Command, integrating drones, mobile missiles and artillery into a coastal shield against potential Chinese invasion.

台湾近期还成立了滨海作战指挥部，将无人机、机动导弹和火炮整合起来，构建一道抵御中国潜在入侵的沿海防线。

Still, Taiwan is a long way from meeting the complex demands of 21st-century warfare, many experts said. It risks becoming “focused on the technology more than the equally essential organizational and doctrinal changes that are needed to implement a hellscape concept,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and an author of a recent study of Taiwan’s drone warfare strategy.

不过，许多专家表示，台湾距离满足21世纪战争的复杂需求仍有相当长的路要走。新美国安全中心高级研究员斯塔西·佩蒂约翰表示，它有可能变得“过于关注技术本身，而忽视同样至关重要的组织和作战理念的变革，而这些变革正是实施‘地狱景象’概念所必不可少的”。斯塔西·佩蒂约翰最近撰写了一份关于台湾无人机作战战略的研究报告。

Building an Indispensable Drone Industry

打造不可或缺的无人机产业

In the event of an invasion, China is likely to try to seal off Taiwan from external support. To survive a blockade, Taiwan needs to build stockpiles and expand homegrown drone production, especially “cheaper, shorter-range one-way attack drones,” Ms. Pettyjohn said.

如果发生入侵，中国很可能试图切断台湾与外部世界的联系。佩蒂约翰说，为了在封锁中生存下来，台湾需要建立库存储备，并扩大本土无人机的生产能力，尤其是生产“成本较低、射程较短的单程攻击型无人机”。

Both sides of Taiwan’s polarized political landscape agree on building more drones, even if they disagree on the details. Taiwan’s government has proposed spending $6.5 billion over five years to buy drones. But two opposition parties that hold the majority in its legislature rejected the plan, arguing that it could attract graft and create waste. The main opposition Nationalist Party has proposed spending $7.4 billion over six years, with requirements for growing levels of domestic production.

虽然台湾政坛对立严重，但在制造更多无人机这一点上大家意见一致，只是在具体细节上存在分歧。台湾政府提议在五年内投入65亿美元采购无人机。但在立法院占多数席位的两个反对党否决了这一计划，认为这可能滋生贪腐并造成浪费。主要反对党国民党则提出在六年内投入74亿美元，并要求逐步提高本土生产的比例。

As lawmakers debate spending, Taiwanese and U.S. drone makers are competing for potential orders.

在立法机构就相关军费展开争论之际，台湾和美国的无人机制造商也在争夺潜在订单。

台湾总统赖清德（中）视察预备役人员操作无人机，摄于去年。

Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese manufacturer, and Shield AI, an American defense technology company, last month staged a trial run for two models of sea drones that could scout for enemy vessels and blow them up. But Chen Kwan-ju, the chairman of Thunder Tiger, said the company is seeking more policy certainty before it expands production partnerships.

台湾制造商雷虎科技与美国国防科技公司Shield AI上月对两款无人艇进行了试验，它们可用于侦测敌方舰艇并将其摧毁。但雷虎科技董事长陈冠如表示，在扩大生产合作之前，公司需要更明确的政策保障。

At the same time, Taiwan is rapidly increasing its rate of drone exports, seeking to make itself an indispensable supplier of components for other democratic states that want to reduce their reliance on Chinese parts, which raise concerns about supply disruptions, or espionage.

与此同时，台湾正在快速扩大无人机出口规模，致力于成为其他民主国家减少对中国零部件依赖的关键供应方。后者既存在供应中断的风险，也引发了间谍活动的担忧。

In the first three months of 2026, Taiwan exported drones worth $115 million, exceeding its total drone exports for all of 2025, according to the island’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. The top destination is the Czech Republic, though many of the drones find their way to nearby Ukraine, research shows.

根据台湾经济部的数据，2026年前三个月，台湾无人机整机出口达1.15亿美元，已经超过2025年全年出口总额。最大的出口目的地是捷克共和国，不过研究显示，其中许多无人机最终流向了邻近的乌克兰。

Taiwan’s exports of drone components are probably even higher. Demand for these parts, such as motors and optical equipment, is likely to grow, according to representatives of U.S. drone companies.

台湾的无人机零部件出口额可能更高。美国无人机公司代表表示，对电机、光学设备等零部件的需求预计将持续增长。

“Taiwan sits at the center of one of the most important industrial and strategic competitions of our time,” Michael Robbins, the president of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, wrote in an email. “It is one of the few places positioned to produce trusted drone components at scale.”

“台湾处于当今时代最重要的产业与战略竞争之核心，”国际无人系统协会主席迈克尔·罗宾斯在一封电子邮件中写道。“它是全球少数几个有能力大规模生产可信赖无人机零部件的地方之一。”