Taiwan is further strengthening its asymmetric capabilities by acquiring more than 2,000 Altius uncrewed aerial vehicles from US defense company Anduril.
Taiwan is further strengthening its asymmetric capabilities by acquiring more than 2,000 Altius uncrewed aerial vehicles from US defense company Anduril.
The country signed an approximately 26.9-billion New Taiwan dollar ($847 million) contract for 1,554 Altius-700M loitering munitions and 478 Altius-600ISR drones, as well as launch equipment and associated systems.
Deliveries of the first batch are expected by the fourth quarter of this year, with full order completion by June 2033, as per Taiwan News.
The drones are intended to be used by the Taiwanese army units dedicated to drone defense.
The signed agreement comes after Taipei received the final batch of Altius 600M loitering munitions from Anduril in March as part of a June 2024 foreign military sale.
Altius Drones
Anduril’s Altius-700M loitering munition is fitted with a 33-pound (15-kilogram) warhead, weighing nearly four times as much as the 600M kamikaze drone’s 9-pound (4-kilogram) warhead, to strike heavy military vehicles and fortified positions.
While both loitering munitions share a similar range of around 160 kilometers (99 miles), they differ in endurance.
The 600M can remain airborne for around 1.5 hours, while the 700M can do so for 1.25 hours.
Meanwhile, the Altius-600ISR is designed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions and features endurance of approximately 3.5 hours.
