I.Facing the continuously escalating enemy threat, the MND is following four major force-building priorities, including “constructing asymmetric capabilities, strengthening defense resilience, enhancing reserve forces, and bolstering gray-zone response capacity,” to procure various weapons and equipment. Some of them have been acquired through domestically contracted production and commercial purchases to achieve defense self-reliance; items that cannot be domestically produced are purchased from foreign spot markets or through U.S. military procurement channels to rapidly enhance national defense capabilities.
II.The new types of weaponry and equipment acquired recently cover ground, maritime, air, and missile-defense operational needs, and are intended to deter, delay, and disrupt enemy forces and thereby layer-by-layer degrade their operational progress. So far this year, asymmetric and resilience-enhancing main battle systems are equipped, including the “M1A2T tank,” “HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system,” “TOW-2B anti-armor missile,” and “Javelin anti-armor missile.” To strengthen reserve capabilities, and following the “active–reserve consistency” standard, individual combat equipment for garrison and reserve units will be procured and issued according to mission and specialty. New issue items will include modern rifles equipped with optical scopes, enclosed red-dot sights, and laser aiming devices, as well as helmet-mounted night-vision goggles, individual combat gear, protective masks, and other equipment.
III.Drawing lessons from recent wars and trends in military technology, the R.O.C. Armed Forces have made unmanned systems a priority in force development. The goal is to procure domestically produced unmanned platforms with “mass-producible, maintainable, and upgradable” qualities, alon with surveillance, strike, communications, and combat-support capabilities through development by civil firms, technology transfer, or licensed production, to improve asymmetric combat effectiveness and increase operational flexibility against diverse threats. This year, military commercial-off-the-shelf micro-drones, target acquisition, surveillance UAVs, the Altius-600M attack drone, and counter-UAV systems have been acquired through military procurement. At the aerospace exhibition held in September, the MND also displayed unmanned platforms and C4ISR products co-produced with the United States, underscoring progress in the “Self-Reliant Defense” policy. Going forward, the MND will continue to strengthen local defense-industry capacity to ensure that our defense industrial supply chain is not infiltrated by the Red Threat.
IV.Regarding the “Indigenous Aircraft Building” policy, 66 new advanced trainer aircraft were scheduled for production from 2017 to 2026, and as of September 30, 2025, 49 planes have been delivered. Under the “Indigenous Ship Building” policy, one new rescue vessel and the first batch of six high-performance ships have been commissioned. The second batch of five high-performance ships, two next-generation light frigates (one air-defense variant and one anti-submarine variant), and a follow-on series of six fast mine-laying boats (FMLB) remain under ongoing policy implementation. Separately, the prototype “indigenous submarine” began at-sea trials in June 2025 and is currently undergoing calibration work on its “main-engine and power-management” systems as well as its “integrated sensor-mast management” system; subsequent tests will proceed step by step once safety and quality assurances are in place.
V.To actively address current threat conditions, the MND continues to procure new air-defense weapons under the President’s “Taiwan Dome (T-DOME)” policy guidance. Existing domestically produced and externally purchased air-defense systems (shooters) are also integrated with an automated C5ISR backbone that links a variety of radars and other high-performance sensing systems (sensors). The result is a multi-sensor, multi-shooter engagement network that can allocate appropriate interceptors according to the threat, forming a multi-layered, tightly integrated air-defense shield to ensure the nation’s air-defense security.
VI.Additionally, special budgets have been allocated under the “Special Statute on Strengthening the Resilience of the Economy, Society, and National Security in Response to International Developments,” and the “Special Act on Procurement for Strengthening Defense Resilience and Asymmetric Force Plan” to procure the required equipment and effectively enhance the overall combat capabilities of the Armed Forces.
Excerpt from: R.O.C. National Defense Report, 4th Session of the 11th Legislative Yuan