Taiwan Built a $111 Million Drone Shield. China Moved Past It.

Taiwan's counter-drone system cannot detect the radio band, the satellite signal, or the fiber-optic links now standard on newer Chinese drones, a government audit found in July. The gap sits between two different clocks: how fast China's drone industry moves, and how slowly Taiwan's military can buy anything.

Taiwan's National Audit Office published its FY2025 Central Government Final Accounts Audit Report on 24 July 2026. Among its 682 audit opinions, the report found that the military's NT$3.55 billion (US$111 million) fixed-site counter-drone system cannot detect or jam the 5.1 GHz frequency band used on newer Chinese drone models, does not cover part of China's BeiDou-3 satellite navigation signal, and has almost no countermeasures against fiber-optic-guided or AI-autonomous drones. SCMP, Taipei Times and CNA each reported the findings, citing the audit. The program is running six to twelve months behind its own schedule. A separate NT$988 million Army contract for 26 counter-drone systems failed three acceptance tests in a row and was reported as moving toward termination, with zero systems delivered.

What the audit found

The counter-drone system, built by Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), was specified in 2021 to cover four commercial drone frequencies: 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz, 1.2 GHz and 1.5 GHz. MND spokesman Sun Li-fang confirmed that scope in a statement carried by CNA, and said NCSIST's next step is adding 5.1 GHz and the missing BeiDou-3 coverage through a system update. DJI's own published specification for its O4 Air Unit lists an operating frequency of 5.170 to 5.250 GHz, the band Taiwan's 2021 program did not include. The audit's own language, reported by SCMP, put it plainly: “The system's detection and countermeasure functions remain incomplete and implementation has fallen behind schedule.”

Confirmed Left column: MND's stated 2021 program scope, via CNA, 27 July 2026. Right column: DJI's own published spec; BeiDou-3 operational date per ESA Navipedia.

China's drone industry moves faster

DJI holds roughly 70 percent of the global civilian drone market, citing Dedrone data reported by The Drone Girl. China's CH-3, CH-4 and CH-5 Rainbow drone family shares an encrypted C-band datalink covering 4 to 8 GHz, entirely outside the range Taiwan's system was built to cover, with a stated 250 km line-of-sight range and over 1,000 km via satellite link, per Janes. Two state-linked developers have staged public demonstrations of larger-scale drone control. CETC states its Atlas system can launch 48 drones per vehicle and control up to 96 simultaneously from one command vehicle, at three-second launch intervals, reported by Chinese state outlet Global Times. NUDT demonstrated single-operator control of a swarm of more than 200 drones in January 2026, reported by SCMP.

The Jiutian question

AVIC's Jiutian SS-UAV, a jet-powered drone carrier, debuted at the Zhuhai Airshow on 12 November 2024 and flew for the first time on 11 December 2025, from Pucheng in Shaanxi province, confirmed by two independent specialist outlets, The War Zone and The Aviationist. AVIC's published specifications list a 16-tonne maximum takeoff weight, a 6-tonne payload, a 7,000 km ferry range and a 25-metre wingspan. AVIC markets the aircraft as carrying a “heterogeneous honeycomb mission bay,” and a PLA senior colonel has described a swarm-launch capability for it.

Unconfirmed No public demonstration has shown the mission bay releasing a drone in flight. The December 2025 first flight confirmed only that the aircraft can take off, fly and land. Whether the bay works, whether the PLA has ordered the type, and in what role, are not publicly disclosed.

The U.S. parallel, and a date that rules one theory out

Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks unveiled the Pentagon's Replicator initiative on 28 August 2023.

Kathleen Hicks, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense, 28 August 2023. DefenseScoop; DOD transcript.

The closest American analog to an airborne drone carrier is DARPA's Gremlins program, which recovered an X-61 Gremlin Air Vehicle in mid-air to a C-130 on 29 October 2021, per Breaking Defense. It has not moved to operational service.

Why Taiwan's process can't keep up

The Control Yuan, Taiwan's own government watchdog, approved an investigation report on 23 April 2026 finding counter-drone deficiencies across equipment performance, deployment, unit capability, testing and maintenance. During the 2025 Han Kuang 41 exercises, a military camp was harassed by drones and troops could not effectively respond with jamming guns, per the same report. The Control Yuan's own finding: traditional acquisition-project cycles cannot keep pace with drone technology iteration.

Confirmed as reported SCMP, single source for each figure in this table, citing the audit and legislative record.

From January through November 2025, the fielded system detected 1,238 drone sorties near protected sites and jammed 276 of them, per INDSR's analysis of Audit Office data. In one Tron Future acceptance test, a commercial drone reached the protected area undetected.

What this does and does not reach

This is a defense-capability and procurement story. The audited amounts are public-budget exposure: an NT$3.55 billion system, an NT$988 million contract, NT$335 billion in stripped funding. No sourced line connects any of it to a consumer price, a utility bill, or another household cost.