Yet Taiwan, which has set an ambitious target of producing 180,000 drones per year by 2028, is struggling to create this industry from scratch. “Taiwan definitely has the ability to make the best drones in the world,” says Cathy Fang, a policy analyst at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET). Designing a HellscapeFang and her colleagues published a lengthy report on June 16 that reveals just how sluggish Taiwan’s drone industry has been. Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion for decades, but recent years have turned it into a more immediate possibility. Today, the country boasts a massive domestic drone industry, with Kyiv planning to buy 4.5 million small drones this year, on top of its long-range uncrewed missile program, its autonomous land vehicles, and its uncrewed naval drones.