CHIAYI (AFP) — At a drone testing field in southwestern Taiwan, university students watch anxiously as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)they designed take off, land and, occasionally, crash in a simulated battlefield scenario.

They are taking part in a competition that is helping Taiwan’s efforts to boost domestic drone production.

With Beijing sustaining military pressure on the island, Taipei is ramping up investment in unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, as it seeks to bolster a more agile defense against a potential Chinese attack.

The UAVs flying in the National Defense Application UAV Challenge could potentially be adopted by drone companies and procured by the government.

“We can see drone applications in many current conflicts happening around the world,” said competition organizer Jan Shau-Shiun, a professor in the space systems engineering department at National Cheng Kung University.

“Taiwan is in a position where we may also face such an issue, so based on this theme, we aim to strengthen our drone capabilities.”

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.

Now in its second year, the competition was held over two days last month at the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in Chiayi county.

Twenty teams from across Taiwan gathered to put their drones to the test. The field will be whittled down to a shortlist this month for another challenge before the winner is declared next year.

Multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones were required to fly autonomously to a height of at least 60 meters, take images of a remote target, and return to base within 10 minutes.

To make the scenario more realistic -- and difficult -- organizers this year used a jammer to disrupt satellite signals to the UAVs, making it harder for them to stay airborne.

“From observing the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, we can see that there’s often interference on the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) before any fighting,” Jan said.