Taiwan's drone defense system lacks coverage for China's newest frequencies
Taiwan's Audit Office reported that the Ministry of Defense's remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle defense system, built by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, cannot detect or counter China's 5.1GHz frequency drones or AI-autonomous drones. The Ministry acknowledged the gap and said it will update the system to include the newer frequency band and develop countermeasures for advanced drone types.
What happened
Taiwan's Audit Office found that the fixed remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle defense system built by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology does not cover China's recently deployed 5.1GHz frequency band, according to the 2026 fiscal year central government final accounting audit report.
The system also lacks effective countermeasures against fiber-optic guided and AI-autonomous navigation drones, and does not include all frequency bands of China's BeiDou satellite system.
Reported impact
The defense system was established in 2021 to counter commercial drones in the 1.2, 1.4, 2.4 and 5.8GHz frequency bands, but China introduced the 5.1GHz frequency drone in 2023, creating a gap in Taiwan's aerial defense coverage.
Index analysis
The Ministry of Defense stated that when the system was built in 2021, China did not yet possess the newer technologies identified by the Audit Office, and the 5.1GHz frequency is not a legal frequency band in Taiwan.
The Ministry of Defense said the BeiDou satellite S frequency band is not primarily used by drones and is allocated for 4G and 5G phone communications under NCC regulations, so it was not included in the defense system.
Governance controls
The Ministry of Defense said it will update the system to include the 5.1GHz frequency band detection and countermeasures, and will pursue foreign mature commercial solutions and self-development to acquire counter-systems for fiber-optic and AI-autonomous drones through the Defense Innovation Group.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.