The Ministry of National Defense has stated today (17^th) that the draft of “National Defense Industry Development Act” has been approved by the 3637^th Executive Yuan meeting and has been sent to the Legislative Yuan for review. The Ministry of National Defense hereby expresses gratitude for the guidance and assistance that the Executive Yuan and relevant departments have provided during the discussion of the draft.

The “National Defense Industry Development Act” was drafted in order to implement national defense autonomous policy, effectively combine civil power, and construct a national defense industry, as well as taking into account the characteristics of a national defense industry including high tech, high agility and intellectual property, and market segmentation by giving consideration to the requirements of national defense security and economic development, so that the market scale can be expanded, which allows the national defense industry to develop sustainably and create a positive cycle of “national defense constructed by the economy, and the economy is supported by the national defense”. The key points of the bill are as follows:

1. Establish an evaluation mechanism, reinforce safety control:

To avoid leakage of confidential national defense information, the manufacturer that is involved with the research and development, manufacturing, and maintenance of military items monitored by the Armed Forces are implemented with level evaluation according to the area of expertise of the national defense industry, and the relevant personnel, facility (equipment), and information system are completed with safety inspection to verify its qualified manufacturer status, which precipitates the manufacturer to contain a complete safety management mechanism when participating future national defense affairs to ensure national defense security.

2. Attract investment from manufacturers, expand the market scale:

Based on the requirements of the national security, the Ministry of National Defense has to select important and critical weapons and equipment as well as choose and designate multiple qualified manufacturers to conduct prototype development by attracting domestic manufacturers to invest in the national defense industry market and motivate the willingness of investing in the research and development of advanced technology through development subsidy that lowers the research and development risks, as well as incentive measures including capital (technical) investment.

3. Assist with R&D and trial production, cross-domain talent cultivation:

In order to accelerate domestic manufacturers in the national defense industry to participate R&D and trial production, as well as prevent leakage of confidential military items, the help from the government on conducting domestic tests and solving technical obstacles is much required; therefore, a cross-domain collaboration mechanism between government agencies and private institutions must be established for the national defense, economic, and technology sectors to implement talent cultivation as well as the technical collaboration between the national defense industry and academic institutions, which gradually elevates the domestic scientific research energy.

The Ministry of National Defense has further stated that the development of national defense industry is a major governance target of autonomous national defense, hence the Ministry of National Defense hereby expresses gratitude to the government and each department for the assistance on stipulating the “National Defense Industry Development Act” that establishes a supply chain of national defense weapon and equipment and the  market scale, which deepens the autonomous national defense energy. The Ministry of National Defense will be actively requesting the Legislative Yuan to approve the specific bill in order to lay down the legal foundation of an autonomous national defense that ensures a sustainable development of the national defense industry.