In news from and about Taiwan this morning,

Defense Minister Wellington Koo is urging lawmakers to support the Cabinet's
version of a special act on unmanned systems procurement.

The bill will authorize up to 210-billion N-T in funding over six years.

The Cabinet bill seeks to fund the procurement of domestically developed
reconnaissance and attack drones, unmanned surface vessels and other unmanned
systems.

The bill is currently under review in th Legislative Yuan alongside other
competing proposals.

They include one by the K-M-T that proposes allocating 240-billion N-T over
six years for unmanned systems through the government's annual budget, with
40-billion N-T to be provided annually.

According to the defense minister the Cabinet version covers the full range
of unmanned systems as well as testing facilities and programs supporting the
development of the unmanned systems industry.

Koo says if all of these items are included under the K-M-T's 40-billion N-T
annual cap, funding will likely be insufficient and such a limitation could
affect programs such as MQ-9B drone procurement.