Taipei: Testing of the MQ-9B "SkyGuardian" drone, four of which were ordered from the United States in 2020, is already underway in Taiwan, a source familiar with the matter told CNA on Sunday.

According to Focus Taiwan, the anonymous source said that the military and the drone manufacturer were working together on assembly and would next proceed to flight testing, without specifying how many MQ-9Bs were included in the first shipment recently delivered to Taiwan.

On March 17, Taiwan's Vice Defense Minister Hsu Szu-chien and Representative to the U.S. Alexander Yui attended a handover ceremony in the U.S. for two of the MQ-9Bs. The U.S. has agreed to deliver the four MQ-9Bs to Taiwan in two batches in 2026 and 2027.

According to the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the MQ-9Bs would provide Taiwan with "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, target acquisition, and counter-land, counter-sea, and anti-submarine strike capabilities."

Hsieh Pei-shiue, an assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Ministry of National Defense-funded think tank, wrote in 2020 that the drone is capable of linking to satellite communications networks shared among U.S. allies. This means Taiwan and its U.S. counterparts could instantly share battlefield intelligence, providing opportunities for the two sides to cooperate during a conflict.

For instance, should a cross-strait conflict break out, Washington could take advantage of anti-ship missile systems deployed along the first island chain to prevent Chinese People's Liberation Army vessels from sailing into waters east of Taiwan to blockade it, Hsieh said. MQ-9Bs are capable of long-term, long-range surveillance, meaning the drones could fly near Chinese vessels and provide critical intelligence for the U.S. to target them, Hsieh wrote in his article at the time.