By Fang Wei-li and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer Taiwan’s efforts to procure advanced uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) could significantly enhance the coast guard’s capability to deal with Chinese “gray zone” activities and reduce the strain on the agency’s vessels, an analyst said yesterday. The armed forces’ and coast guard’s efforts to acquire maritime reconnaissance and surveillance UAVs are a step in the right direction, Institute for National Defense and Security Research research fellow Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌) said. Compared with other surveillance platforms, drones offer longer operational range, extended loiter time and the ability to detect targets beyond the horizon, Shu said. Military uncrewed aerial vehicles are exhibited during a Ministry of National Defense