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Taiwan has developed suicide drones equivalent to those at the heart of Ukraine’s defence against Russia, the clearest sign yet of progress in the country’s efforts to build up rapidly its autonomous weapons capabilities to resist a potential attack from China. The Taiwanese military’s weapons research arm and Thunder Tiger, one of the country’s leading drone makers, have completed live-fire testing and certification of an attack drone. It was powered by the same systems, from US-German software company Auterion, as those in drones that Ukraine uses against Russian tanks and naval assets, said Thunder Tiger and Auterion. The drone, named Overkill, is equipped with Auterion’s artificial intelligence strike system and camera. Auterion chief executive Lorenz Meier said those features give Taiwan the same capabilities that Ukraine used to take out Russian T-90M tanks in August last year and destroy the radar of a Russian oil rig a few weeks ago. “Here is the weapon,” Meier said, referencing footage of the live-fire tests. Taiwan’s military this month revealed the drone, which was jointly developed by Thunder Tiger and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), in a video of a test conducted in March. It did not release specifics at the time.
Full report : Taiwan develops suicide drones akin to Ukraine’s to defend against China.