Taiwan turns to US drone boats to track rising mainland Chinese sea activity

Taiwan's coastguard is acquiring an undisclosed number of US-designed Devil Ray T24 uncrewed surface vessels from Maritime Tactical Systems, or MARTAC, for its first dedicated autonomous patrol-boat programme. Announced in October 2026, the agreement envisages production in both the United States and Taiwan with local partner Confucian involved in the project. The high-speed craft are intended to support long-range maritime search, reconnaissance, investigations and remote rescue, supplementing crewed coastguard assets monitoring activity around the island. The contract establishes a planned procurement, but the number of vessels, price, delivery schedule and final sensor fit were not made public.