Taipei: Taiwan-based drone manufacturer Thunder Tiger Corp. collaborated with U.S. defense company Shield AI to demonstrate mission autonomy software through a joint operation involving unmanned surface vessels (USVs). During this demonstration at Dapeng Bay, Thunder Tiger's SeaShark 800 and SeaShark 600 USVs were tasked with executing a reconnaissance mission within a designated section of the bay. Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy software split the search area into two sectors, assigning one USV to each.

According to Focus Taiwan, after one USV detected a target vessel of interest, the information was shared with the other USV in real time. The first USV pursued the target while the second approached via an optimized route, ultimately succeeding in expelling the intruder. Personnel from Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute for Science and Technology and the Coast Guard Administration were present for the demonstration.

Maximilian Chen, Shield AI's director of government relations for Asia, highlighted that a fleet of five USVs could cover up to 8.3 times their combined search area using Hivemind to determine their routes. Thunder Tiger Chairman William Chen emphasized the growing importance of unmanned vehicles due to the Russia-Ukraine war. He urged the Legislative Yuan to pass a Cabinet-sponsored drone procurement bill to facilitate Taiwan's purchase of domestically built drones, stressing the significance of government policy in the industry's development amid security threats from the Taiwan Strait. Lawmakers are currently negotiating 14 versions of the bill after failing to agree on its key components during committee review.

The Ministry of National Defense has requested funding for 1,446 coastal reconnaissance drones, 208,200 coastal attack drones, and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels.