Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration has reopened its tender for medium-range drones, with a budget of NT$782.7 million, about US$24 million. The notice went up on the government’s procurement site on 13 October. Bids close on 9 November.
It is the second attempt. The first round opened in May and was declared void on 11 August, after a seven-member panel had met to judge it. The official notice gives the reason in one word, “void”, and names no bidder.
What the coast guard wants
The first-round documents called for nine systems of two aircraft each, Taiwan’s Upmedia reported in June. Each set comes with a vehicle that carries it to the shore and a control room further back. The drones take off and land vertically, stay up for 10 hours, fly at 100 km/h and work 100 km from their controls.
They were also due in the Spratly Islands by early March 2027, on Upmedia’s reading of the documents. Taiwan holds one island there, Taiping, which China, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim.
The new notice rewrites the specification, the scoring rules, the proof-of-concept plan and the delivery table, so bidders must buy the documents again. It does not say whether the March date still stands.
No Chinese money
Both rounds bar companies from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and any firm with capital from there. The second round adds paperwork. Each bidder signs a declaration and lists the nationality of its directors, managers and every shareholder above 10%. A missing or unsigned form disqualifies the bid.
Price counts for at least 20% of the score. Each bidder puts up a NT$35 million bond.
One of four drone buys
Coast guard officials told legislators in April that the service would spend about NT$2.1 billion on 451 vertical take-off drones, Taiwanese papers reported. The plan splits them into 412 short-range drones, 18 medium-range ones, 12 for ships and nine for its special task unit.
The ship drones are arriving first. Shield AI said on 13 October that it had delivered the coast guard’s first V-BAT with Taiwan’s AIDC, under a contract won in July, and that more would follow in the coming months.
The medium-range bids will be opened at the coast guard’s Taipei headquarters on 10 November.
