DEFENSE/Taiwan to form defense innovation unit: New defense chief

Taipei, June 3 (CNA) Taiwan's new defense minister has pledged to form a military technology development unit to integrate research on the development of military and civilian defense technology, with the aim of boosting the nation's asymmetrical warfare capabilities in the face of growing military threats from China.

Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who assumed office on May 20 as one of President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) Cabinet appointees, made the pledge during a media roundtable with military beat reporters on Friday.

During the event, Koo, 65, Taiwan's first civilian defense minister in over a decade, listed several top priorities in his new role, including boosting Taiwan's asymmetrical warfare capabilities, joint warfare capabilities, and whole-of-society-resilience, as well as continuing to reform the nation's reserve forces.

On boosting asymmetrical warfare capabilities, which aims to counter the heavy weaponry of Chinese forces with smaller and more mobile equipment, Koo said his ministry will launch a new military unit similar to that of the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

The Taiwan-version of the DIU, to be listed under the Ministry of National Defense's (MND) Department of Integrated Assessment, will work as a platform to combine the resources and capabilities of the MND's top research unit -- the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology -- and other civilian-run defense technology companies, according to Koo, who pledged to personally supervise the new unit's operations once it is formed.

Koo also said that unlike the U.S., Taiwan does not have a big budget to develop defense technology from scratch.

The MND's new DIU unit will instead focus on investing in relatively mature defense technologies, such as next generation UAVs and unmanned ships, to continue to maintain Taiwan's current edge in terms of asymmetrical warfare in the defense of the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Koo, however, did not give more details on the planned unit, including when it will be launched and exactly how much money will be spent on it.

Launched in 2015, the Pentagon's DIU is staffed by civilians and both active duty and reserve military personnel. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California -- in the Silicon Valley -- with offices in Austin, Boston, Chicago, and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.

The DIU "strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and bolstering our allied and national security innovation bases," the DIU's website says.

"DIU partners with organizations across the Department of Defense to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale," it adds.