Shahed fever spreads to Taiwan

What they're saying: "We know that Taiwan needs something like long-distance attack drones that can attack cities in China from Taiwan. It has to travel a long distance," Allan Chi, a Thunder Tiger representative, said.

• "A lot of people have noticed drones are used for asymmetrical warfare," he added. "We learn a lot of lessons from Ukraine."

Axios got the chance to inspect Papa Delta last week at the Thunder Tiger headquarters, alongside several other media outlets.

• It was displayed near the company's other drones, including 7- and 10-inch Overkill FPVs.

Zoom in: Each Papa Delta costs tens of thousands of dollars; company presentations describe it as aluminum-stamped. Mass production, Chi said, is on the horizon.

• "It can hit personnel or armor or buildings — that's multipurpose," he said. "Our customers are mainly in defense of Taiwan."

Zoom out: Thunder Tiger has worked with Auterion and Shield AI. Both autonomy specialists have a significant presence in the U.S.

• "Software is not our forte," Chi said. "We are more focused on hardware."

Editor's note: This trip, attended by more than a dozen members of the media, was organized and partially funded by the Taiwanese government.