Free Lecture》Unmanned boat is not only a weapon, but also a universal platform at sea

When a ship goes to sea, it usually means there are people on board. Someone is at the helm, someone is on the lookout, and someone is judging whether there is a suspicious ship ahead. This model has worked for hundreds of years, but today the rules of the game at sea are changing - a ship without a crew can already go to sea on its own.

This is definitely not some far-off sci-fi scenario. Taiwan has already seen an eye-catching technical verification this year: domestic unmanned boats have been paired with American artificial intelligence systems to conduct "multi-boat autonomous collaborative testing", allowing the unmanned boats to allocate search areas according to tasks and perfectly integrating radar, optoelectronics and automatic ship identification systems (AIS). To put it simply, they can not only sail on their own, but can also search different sea areas like a police dog team.

But what really deserves Taiwan's attention in this matter is definitely not "we have another powerful domestic weapon." We must first clarify a key concept: unmanned boats are not toys, let alone weapons.

Its real value is a "marine universal carrier platform" that can be continuously changed and used according to the mission.

Broadening the horizons, these unmanned boats do not need to hide in military camps to gather dust during peacetime. It can serve as a clone for the Coast Guard, patrolling borders and cracking down on illegal fishing; it can inspect offshore wind farms and submarine cables for the Energy Bureau; it can also serve as a vanguard for walrus monitoring and post-disaster search and rescue. This is its practical value in daily life.

And when the sea situation rises, its status can be switched seamlessly. The platform that was originally used to inspect wind farms was equipped with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and became a maritime surveillance network; the eyes of the maritime patrol yesterday were directly transformed into the country's intelligence defense line today. This is the true "peace-to-war transformation" - bringing into full play the value of people's livelihood management in peacetime and instantly forming combat power in wartime.

When we talk about drones, we have shifted from simply “buying a few” to thinking about “whether they can be mass-produced locally, quickly replenished, and continuously upgraded.” Facing Taiwan, which is surrounded by sea, unmanned boats should take this path. We can’t just stare at the sky. The sea, ports, strategic waterways and even offshore wind fields are all in urgent need of continuous defense eyelines day and night.

Therefore, Taiwan should not just ask now: "How many unmanned boats do we want to buy?"

What we should ask more is: Who maintains and operates these unmanned boats? How to connect data? If something goes wrong, does Taiwan have the ability to repair, change, and upgrade it on its own?

An unmanned boat may seem small in size, but if drones in the sky, unmanned boats on the sea, and unmanned vehicles underwater can be connected through AI to form a three-dimensional sensing network, what Taiwan will get is not just a few new ships, but a new set of maritime defense resilience.

Taiwan does not need to rely solely on large, expensive traditional warships to fight head-on. We need to let our sea have a pair of eyes that don't have to risk our lives, but can keep watch 24 hours a day and night. This is the most profound answer that unmanned boats can give Taiwan.