Taiwan ramps up space-defense drive amid Beijing threats

To develop surveillance and defense systems that could be deployed in the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese government is working with dozens of international space‑technology startups while nurturing local firms.

Supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration (SMESA) and managed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a program called Taiwan Accelerator Plus (TAcc+) has supported 42 startups focused on space‑defense technologies since it launched its International SpaceTech Startup Supporting Program in 2023.

These startups develop satellites, rocket engines and geospatial equipment and partner with Taiwan’s traditionalInformation and Communication Technologies(ICT) companies for manufacturing.

The Taiwanese government also provided financial support to some local startups. Among them,BaseTech, founded in 2021,produces high-precision telescopemounts that can be used to track satellitesfrom a few hundred to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Its systems can also track a swarm of military drones.

“Our HawkView Monitoring System can be applied in airspace security, maritime and port security,” Henry Chen, a senior manager atBase Technology, told Asia Times in an interview during a recent London trade show. “Itcan track drones, airplanes and birds at a distance over 15 kilometers and use artificial technology to scan the objects automatically.”

In a video, Chen demonstrated how HawkView tracks more than 300 Chinese sparrows in real time in Kentingat the southernmost tip of Taiwan. He added that the system can also track ships and create high-resolution footage for users to determine whether an approaching vehicle is a battleship.

“Another applicationis free-space optical (FSO) communication between a satellite and a ground station using lasers,” he said. “Many companies in Taiwan are makingradio frequency communication systems, and only a few focus on FSO communications.”

FSO is considered a highly sensitivedual-use technology. A ground station can transmit laser beams to satellites for data transmission, supporting both civil and military applications. This requires high-precision mounting systems and specialized software.

Chen saidBaseTech has received funding from the Taiwanese government and deployed its systems to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) and Taiwan’s Air Force and Navy. He said the company is looking for customers in Europe.

Hellscape for Taiwan

The Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, said in a report on February26 that Taiwan should adopt a so‑called “hellscape” strategy built around large numbers of drones and other uncrewed systems to counter a potential Chinese invasion.

Under the proposal, Taiwan would deploy thousands of aerial, surface and underwater drones to saturate the air and waters of the Taiwan Strait, striking Chinese forces before they reach the island.

The report outlines a layered defense to disrupt an invasion before forces reach Taiwan’s coast:

• Outer layer (80–40 km): Long‑range aerial, surface and undersea drones strike Chinese vessels and drain interceptor stockpiles.
• Middle layer (35–5 km): Sea mines slow and funnel landing craft into corridors where one‑way attack drones can strike.
• Inner layer (within 5 km and beaches): Short‑range drones attack ships and landing forces during the final approach.

Such a Hellscape strategy needs to be supported by strong space technology. In recent years,TAcc+ has encouragedinternational space technology firms to visit Taiwan and form partnerships with local companies.

“In the past, we focused mainly on ICT, but now we are shifting to the space sector,”said Jessi Fu, head of global partnership at ITRI.

“We have invited 42 companies to come to Taiwan for a one-month program. During the program, we have provided them with a lot of B2B (business-to-business) meetings and helped them understand our ICT ecosystem and look for business partners and component suppliers.”

For example, she said, five United Kingdom startups signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Taiwanese firms and secured new orders through the program last year. HEX20 and Slingshot Aerospace were among the program’s participants.

Last October, HEX20, an Indian-Australian maker of small satellites, signed an MoU with TaiCrystal International Technology Co, a Taiwanese firm specializing in space‑grade power chips.

“Taiwan is well known for high-end electronics and precision manufacturing. But all these electronics must go through some special finetuning before they are sent to space,” said Lloyd Lopez, co-founder and chief executive at HEX20. “India’smore than 60 years of experience in space technology can be applied in Taiwan.”

Slingshot Aerospace, a US-based provider of AI‑powered solutions for satellite tracking, space‑traffic coordination, and space modeling and simulation, setup a unit in Taiwan to serve the Asia‑Pacific and Southeast Asian markets.

Localizing space technology

Calls for Taiwan to localize foreign space‑defense technology have intensified amid rising tensions between China and the United States.

The effort also comes amid uncertainty over US military support. On February 28, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration delayed announcing a roughly US$13 billion arms package for Taiwan, including air‑defense missiles, to avoid upsetting Beijing before President Donald Trump’s planned April meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

At the Space‑Comm Expo in London on March 4 and 5, space defense experts discussed what Taiwan should do to fight against China’s modern warfare.

“The great lesson from Ukraine is that communications is vital,” Shashank Joshi, defense editor at The Economist, toldAsia Times at the event. “If you don’t have communications, you can’t stay functional on the battlefield. Ukraine’s ability to get messages out to the world on day one allowed it to sustain itself.”

However, he said a cyberattack against the California‑based ViaSat satellite network, launched shortly before Russia’s full‑scale invasion, was an important lesson. He said Taiwan may not want to rely entirely on an American company with different geopolitical priorities, and that Starlink has at times constrained how Ukraine can use its services.

“We know the Taiwanese are now talking to others, such as Eutelsat, and thinking about how they do this. But these programs are capital-intensive,” Joshi said, adding that Taiwan is still some way from being able to guarantee communications if a war breaks out.

Last June, Chunghwa Telecom secured approval to operate low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite services using Eutelsat OneWeb technology, allowing it to provide satellite communications to government agencies and commercial users in Taiwan.

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Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at@jeffpao3