During the National Day rehearsal, IOC Chairman Guan Biling revealed the first V-BAT vertical take-off and landing drone to arrive in Taiwan. Today, Shield AI officially announced that it has completed the delivery of the first V-BAT vertical take-off and landing surveillance drone to the Taiwan Maritime Commission Coast Guard Agency (CGA) together with its partner Hanxiang Aviation Industries (AIDC). In the next few months, 12 V-BATs are expected to be delivered to the Coast Guard.
Shield AI stated that the Coast Guard showed the first arriving V-BAT drone to Taipei Port on October 7 to Chairman of the Maritime Commission Guan Biling and Secretary-General of the National Security Council Wu Zhaoxie. Shield AI engineers demonstrated on-site that it only takes a few minutes to set up the drone, demonstrating the easy operation of V-BAT and its advanced technical capabilities for maritime security missions.
The Coast Guard will use V-BAT vertical take-off and landing surveillance drones to perform ship-based missions, continuously master Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), and support surveillance, maritime patrol and law enforcement services. Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones do not require a runway, which not only improves deployment flexibility, but also helps reduce operating costs and manpower requirements. In order to deepen local technical cooperation, Shield AI will provide relevant training for Coast Guard operation and maintenance personnel, and work with Hanxiang to establish a complete V-BAT local support system.
Brandon Zeng, President and Co-Founder of Shield AI Tseng said: "V-BAT will provide the Taiwan Coast Guard with the maritime domain awareness and intelligence images it needs in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters. V-BAT currently assists the U.S. Coast Guard in performing relevant tasks, and helped intercept more than 100,000 pounds of drugs last year. We believe that by extending V-BAT's application capabilities in the U.S. Coast Guard to Taiwan, it will help maintain security across the Taiwan Strait, prevent illegal activities and threats from hostile forces, and further strengthen Taiwan's ability to maintain the security and sovereignty of its own maritime areas."
Zhuang Xiumei, general manager of Hanxiang Aviation Industry, said: "The Coast Guard's adoption of the V-BAT vertical take-off and landing surveillance drone demonstrates the fruitful results of Shield AI's world-class top technology and Hanxiang's local expertise. In the past year, Shield AI has continued to deepen its presence and influence in Taiwan, demonstrating its long-term commitment to work with local partners to promote the integration, maintenance and technical support of advanced autonomous systems. We are convinced that Shield AI AI not only provides advanced technologies and solutions, but is also committed to helping Taiwan build local professional technical capabilities and infrastructure to strengthen Taiwan’s maritime security and defense capabilities in the long term.”
V-BAT is a Group 3 unmanned aerial system (UAS). It adopts a guided fan design, has an endurance of more than 12 hours, and is equipped with a heavy fuel engine. V-BAT is specifically designed to handle high-intensity electronic warfare environments. After testing and actual deployment, V-BAT can provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and targeting capabilities at a cost and logistical requirement that is far lower than that of large unmanned aerial systems. Its single-engine, enclosed rotor design requires no additional auxiliary equipment and can safely take off and land on ship decks, urban building rooftops and in harsh environments, making it highly suitable for maritime and expeditionary combat missions.
