US-based Kratos Defence and Taiwan’s military have successfully tested a new jet-powered attack drone, a move aimed at rapidly boosting the island’s ability to field “large numbers” of low-cost drones amid a rising Chinese threat.

In a recent test campaign at Kratos’ facility in Oklahoma City, engineers from both sides validated the integration of a Taiwanese mission payload on the Mighty Hornet IV attack drone, Kratos said in a statement on Thursday.

Kratos called the test a “milestone” that could pave the way for deeper cooperation between the company and Taiwan’s top military research body, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST).

The effort comes as Taiwan seeks to expand security ties with the United States, including jointly developing and manufacturing weapons, while China steps up military pressure to force the democratically governed island to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

In a statement, NCSIST described the project as a “new milestone in US-Taiwan defence technology collaboration,” saying such cooperation can shorten development timelines and meet Taiwan’s needs for “rapid countermeasures and long-range preemptive strikes.”

The Mighty Hornet IV is being developed as a low-cost, cruise missile-like weapon, and the two sides aim to base a “large quantity” of the systems in Taiwan as both a deterrent and a wartime asset, according to Kratos.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory despite the island’s objections, has been sending warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around Taiwan on an almost daily basis in what Taipei calls “grey zone” tactics.

It held its latest large-scale war games near the island in late December.

The number of detected Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and drones, operating near Taiwan rose 23% in 2025 from a year earlier, Taiwan’s defence minister said this week.

Taipei has been working to secure cheaper, more numerous unmanned systems that are key to complicating any potential Chinese attack.