Taiwan to Present 2nd Gen Albatross Drone at TADTE 2023 Exhibition

Taiwan’s second generation Albatross drone will be unveiled at the 2023 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE) in September.

The drone is developed by the National Chung Shan Institute of Technology (NCSIST). The announcement of its unveiling was made by Geostat Aerospace and Technology Chairman Lo Cheng-fang on Monday.

The process of system adjustments and testing is mostly complete, with only some modifications left, Lo was quoted as saying by Taiwan’s Liberty Times.

Mass production of the drone will start this year.

For the first version of the Albatross, Geostat was responsible for some of the maintenance and repair duties, but for the second-generation drone, the company is in charge of manufacturing and assembly, the chairman said.

The new Albatross drone has a range of 250 km and an increased payload capacity. It will mainly be used for reconnaissance and target acquisition missions but can carry out offshore strikes if necessary. The drones can be outfitted with 2.75-inch diameter rockets.

In August 2022, Taiwan opened a research and development center for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in Chiayi as part of an effort to boost its asymmetric warfare capabilities.

The new facility explores AI technologies to incorporate into its indigenously-built drones, bolstering Taiwan’s defense supply chain. It will also serve to drive local economic growth through industry clustering.