Taiwan develops kamikaze marine UAV with cruising range of more than 550 km

By Alimat Aliyeva

Taiwanese shipbuilding company JSSC has developed a marine surface drone with a range of about 300 nautical miles (almost 556 km), Azernews reports.

According to her, the length of the boat reaches 16.5 meters, and the width and height are 3.8 meters. With a total displacement of about 20 tons, its draft is about 1 meter. The maximum speed of the device exceeds 30 knots (about 55.6 km/h). The fuel reserve of the drone is about 1.3 thousand liters.

The marine vehicle can perform tasks of searching for and destroying mines, as well as installing minefields. In addition, it is capable of playing the role of a kamikaze drone and attacking enemy surface ships. As the newspaper notes, in case of loss of control and GPS signal, the boat can independently return to the base according to the calculations of the on-board computer.

In April, Ziyu Shibao reported that Taiwan plans to build about 200 unmanned kamikaze boats. Their development within the framework of a project called Kuaiji is conducted on the basis of a target ship by the Zhongshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST). It is expected that the process of evaluating their combat capabilities and testing will be completed in 2025, and mass production will begin in 2026.

In addition, the institute is developing an underwater drone within the framework of the Huilong project.