Taiwan's MALE UAV Capable Of Firing AGM-114 Missiles Suffers Damage Ahead Of Mass Production

As Taiwan continues to build its military arsenal amid the growing threats from China, the country's Air Force witnessed one of its MALE UAV capable of firing AGM-114 missiles suffer damages, while being tested.

Teng Yun 2--a prototype of its homegrown drone and developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology--met with an accident Wednesday, according to the EurAsian Times. The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle went out of control and landed beside the runway at Hualien Air Base.

The Teng Yun 2, which is said to resemble the American MQ-1 Predator, has a range of nearly 620 miles. It also has an endurance of 24 hours, and a service ceiling of 25,000 feet, according to a report on Air Recognition.

While the drone is compatible with the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground, laser-guided, subsonic missile with anti-tank capacity, it can also be an air-to-air weapon against helicopters or slow-moving aerial objects.

The drone was being tested Wednesday ahead of its mass production, which was expected to begin this year. It is believed that the drone suffered an issue during the taxing and take-off process, making certain mechanical parts perform erratically. The flight was immediately canceled, but, at the time of decelerating, the aircraft slid off the runway.

Preliminary investigation reveals that the landing gear and the propeller had sustained damage in the accident.

The drone was sent back to Jiashan Air Base for inspection of the software and hardware components.

In June, the Teng Yun 2 had performed a 10-hour flight around Taiwan's air defense identification zone.

This latest incident comes as Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said earlier this month the country has started speeding up the development and production of drones.

"Responding to the present enemy threat and using the general experience of drones in the Ukraine-Russia war to construct an asymmetric combat power for our country's drones, the defense ministry is speeding up research, development, and production of various drones," Sun said.

Taiwan wants to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers and develop its industry, investing $1.6 million to produce drones.

Shu Hsiao-Huang, a warfighting concepts analyst at Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Taiwan's government think tank, said: "Military drones have played an important role in the Ukraine-Russia war as both Russia and Ukraine are using them to locate enemy targets and guide artillery fire towards them."

"They will also be effective for Taiwan when it comes to locating enemy targets and guiding the attacks," he said.