Taiwan is rapidly expanding its domestic drone industry, taking lessons from Ukraine and embracing a “Hellscape” strategy built around swarms of relatively inexpensive unmanned systems. The goal is to use large numbers of surveillance and attack drones, along with unmanned boats, to overwhelm and slow a Chinese amphibious assault, potentially turning vulnerable ships into “sitting ducks” as they cross the roughly 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.

The government has proposed a $6.6 billion special budget for more than 200,000 unmanned systems, including 208,200 attack drones, 1,446 reconnaissance drones and 1,320 unmanned vessels. Taiwan currently produces about 15,000 drones per month but aims to reach 100,000 per month by 2030, according to USNI News.

The debate also involves Taiwan’s broader defense spending: the proposed 2027 defense budget is NT$1.1 trillion ($34.1 billion), or about 4% of GDP, while the government has pledged to reach 5%, The Taipei Times reports. Opposition lawmakers want U.S. drone purchases to include a 40% Taiwanese component offset, while defense officials argue that rapid domestic production is critical because Taiwan could be cut off from foreign supplies during a conflict.

The broader “Hellscape” concept is to flood the Taiwan Strait with unmanned systems, making any Chinese invasion slower, more difficult, and more costly.