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Sep 24, 17:28
Taiwan's homegrown trainer program ends with 66 Brave Eagles delivered
AIDC's Brave Eagle advanced jet trainer, a flagship "made-in-Taiwan" defense program, completed development and mass production on September 24, with AIDC chairman Chin-Pin Tsao personally leading the final delivery. The handover means all 66 production aircraft have now been delivered, marking a new chapter for Taiwan's defense aviation supply chain.

US defense tech unicorn Anduril plans to expand its overall investment in Taiwan, with procurement from its Taiwan supply chain expected to grow 15-fold in 2026, founder Palmer Luckey said at the International Forum of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee.
As SpaceX continues to expand its Crew Dragon missions and as technical delays push Boeing's Starliner certification timeline out to potentially 2027, the gap in the agency's dual-supplier strategy continues to widen.

Taiwan's first domestically built submarine, the Hai Kun, was seen leaving Kaohsiung Port on September 21 for its 21st sea trial and 15th diving test. The vessel has remained out of public view for nearly two months since setting sail on July 30. The project is now entering the final stretch, following a period of in-depth adjustments, raising the possibility that it could be delivered as early as October.

China has taken another step toward deploying artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure in space after a commercial rocket launched nine satellites, including the country's first integrated "rocket-and-satellite" AI computing project.

South Korea and the US have hit an impasse in final-stage investment talks over commercial viability safeguards, with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung saying that some parts are hard to accept. The deadlock is raising concerns that the months-long negotiations over South Korea's investment plans in the US could collapse.

Following the Legislative Yuan's passage of the Act on Strengthening Defense Autonomy and Developing the Unmanned Vehicles Industry and its subsequent countersignature by the Executive Yuan, Taiwan's drone industry is preparing for a potential new wave of government procurement, with tenders possibly emerging by the end of 2026. While the expected domestic orders could provide a boost, Taiwanese drone manufacturers are also accelerating overseas expansion to diversify their customer base and reduce reliance on local procurement.

FarEasTone Telecommunications has cleared four of the six regulatory steps required to bring Amazon Leo to Taiwan, but commercial service will not start until 2027 at the earliest, in line with Amazon's own timetable.
As countries worldwide accelerate efforts to develop homegrown defense technology capabilities, Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) showcased three key technologies at the Taiwan Innotech Expo 2026 (TIE), aimed at moving defense research from the laboratory to the battlefield and advancing dual-use applications.
Starlink's massive scale in conventional low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites has markedly reinforced the satellite giant's aggressive grip on the commercial space industry for the next decade or so.

Very low Earth orbit (VLEO) is moving from concept toward real-world deployment.

The broader high-tech landscape has wondered for years about the subtle transactions and movements unfolding underneath the enormous technology ecosystem Elon Musk has stitched together amid a rapidly expanding business reach across AI-driven industries.