00:00U.S. drone manufacturers are out in full force at this year's Singapore Air Show.
00:04Some are keeping a keen eye on China's military gray zone tactics in the South China Sea
00:08and what opportunities that could bring.
00:10It's open, what China's been doing.
00:12Japan's actually been experiencing it the longest.
00:15Obviously, Taiwan.
00:17So China's stated many times their intention is to do something in 2027.
00:22And so 2026 is kind of the last chance for anybody who's going to buy something to buy it.
00:28This comes amid a push by countries to scale up their drone capabilities,
00:32learning lessons from the Ukraine war,
00:34where drones have featured prominently on the battlefield.
00:37Some companies here are even boasting about their real-world successes in Eastern Europe.
00:41The VBAT, we've been flying that in Russia-Ukraine conflict,
00:46where it is every single mission, GPS is jammed, communications is jammed,
00:50but we're still able to execute missions,
00:52which are intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting missions.
00:56That is something that a lot of our Asia customers are looking for.
01:00And deals are happening.
01:01Shield AI announced it would supply Singapore with AI software for its drone fleet.
01:06Naros, another U.S. firm, says it plans to expand manufacturing into Singapore,
01:10as well as South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan.
01:13There's a market here for Taiwan buyers, too.
01:16President Lai Ching-de, as part of his stalled special defense budget,
01:19hopes to buy 200,000 new drones for combat and surveillance.
01:22Some of those could be made in Taiwan,
01:25while others could come from big-name foreign suppliers here, like Andaril.
01:29Taiwan is not alone.
01:30This arms race is showing no signs of letting up,
01:32with many betting that drones will be a key part of battlefield tactics all over the world.
01:37Ryan Wu and Larry Siano for Taiwan Plus.
01:39Thank you, sir.
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