Taiwan has been testing its domestically made “Teng Yun” (騰雲) or Cloud Rider drones near an Air Force base in sparsely populated Taitung County.
The Teng Yun is a medium-altitude long-endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle produced by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (中科院).
One of the drones was recently spotted flying above the Zhihang (志航) Air Force Base in Taitung County, according to the United Daily News. The newspaper reported that local residents first thought it was a fighter jet because of its large size, but they noted it did not have a cockpit and made a different sound.
The aircraft, which resembled the U.S.-made Predator, was seen flying close to the fishing port of Fugang on several recent evenings.
Taiwan’s Air Force lost interest in purchasing the Teng Yun due to its electronic systems, the United Daily News quoted an expert as saying, but the recent tests might indicate that the Chung-Shan Institute upgraded the systems and that the Air Force might have again expressed a willingness to buy.
Source: Taiwan News