Taiwan teams up with US start-up on underwater drones to boost island’s defences

The deal with Vatn Systems aims to strengthen Taipei’s asymmetric warfare capabilities amid growing military pressure from Beijing

NCSIST said the partnership would combine overseas technology with Taiwan’s industrial and research capabilities to accelerate AUV development and systems integration while strengthening underwater reconnaissance and maritime defence resilience.

“Taiwan is one of many allies rethinking what undersea defence looks like,” Vatn co-founder and CEO Nelson Mills was quoted as saying in a statement on Tuesday.

“Building affordable undersea autonomy for US and allied partners and deploying that capability at scale is core to our strategy, and this agreement gives us a chance to explore how that technology can support Taiwan’s naval modernisation efforts.”