Taiwan with its current approach will hardly withstand a war with China. The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) analytical center advises Taiwanese forces to create an asymmetric hellscape against the Chinese military in one of its reports, where thousands of drones will be deployed alongside traditional weapons to inflict maximum casualties on China's army while crossing the Taiwan Strait and during amphibious landings.
However, the report also states that Taiwan today faces difficulties in creating such an asymmetric advantage, which is related to several factors, from the absence of an industrial base for truly mass drone production to institutional problems in the country's armed forces, Breaking Defense reports.
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Regarding the first point, Taiwan only considered saturating its military with domestic maritime drones last year, though its first maritime drone was presented back in 2023, after which several years of inactivity were observed in this direction.
Eventually, in August last year, Taiwan decided to purchase 1,320 Kuai Chi maritime drones, with deliveries continuing over five years. If war with China begins earlier, Taiwan will find itself in a situation where it simply lacks the means to mount an asymmetric response to an invasion.
Overall, analysts advise Taiwan to form a four-level defense against China. Unmanned systems will be employed at the first level, involving 40-80 km from the coastline. Various drone types are proposed, both aerial as well as surface and underwater, which will deter the Chinese military together with anti-ship missiles.
The idea is to exhaust China's interceptor missile stocks by mixing cheap drones and missiles in salvos, making the Chinese fleet vulnerable to subsequent attack waves.
Defense Express notes that maritime drones are naturally not a panacea in the case of a Taiwan war with China. Especially when compared to Ukraine and our maritime drones against russia's Black Sea Fleet, Taiwan will not have that surprise factor. The Chinese military will likely be prepared to some degree to repel swarms of maritime and aerial drones.
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