In a small, crowded room in Taipei, Pan Chien-chin is trying to keep a drone hovering steadily. Imagining himself flying a plane, he gently nudges controller joysticks to guide the insect-like device as it hums through the air.

Cheers break out as Pan, who has never flown a drone before, steers it around a rectangular course marked by traffic cones without crashing. Around him are about two dozen fellow trainees, all signed up for the same course: Taiwan’s first civil defence drone training programme.

“The war in Ukraine has really changed how drones are used,” says Pan, 48, a food company worker. “It’s like giving myself another skill, something I can use if it’s ever needed one day,” he adds.

The pioneering programme, launched in May, is another sign of Taiwan’s civil defence movement drawing lessons from Ukraine, where drones have played an increasingly critical role in pushing back the Russian invasion since 2022.

Taiwan has seen an island-wide boom in emergency rescue and first aid training in recent years, with more than 30 local, volunteer-led civil defence groups now active.

Tang Tsong-yi, a spokesperson at Kuma Academy, the civil defence NGO that runs the training, says the course helps beginner drone pilots understand the capabilities of drones on the battlefield.

The course has emerged as part of a broader effort to improve drone literacy among the public in Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that faces a growing military threat from China.

The number of registered drones in Taiwan surpassed 39,000 in December, according to Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration, which lowered the minimum age for drone registration to 14 in 2024. Some high schools in Taipei have started holding summer camps to teach students how to assemble drones from scratch and use them for search-and-rescue operations.

Sessions at Kuma Academy’s drone piloting course have sold out through August; about 75 people can be trained each month.

On the Saturday afternoon Pan attended his first class, he was joined by a diverse group: two teenagers, and adults ranging from their 30s to their 60s. More than half were women.

Karren Wang, a 65-year-old retiree, says that flying drones could be one of her best ways to contribute in a crisis given her age. Speaking after the class, she rated her first attempt at drone piloting “not too bad”, thanks to a supportive atmosphere in the group.

“Even if you crashed terribly, they would still say: ‘Great job’,” she says.

The five participants who spoke to the Guardian had all taken part in other training run by local civil defence groups, including first aid and casualty evacuation.

With drone training added to the toolkit, civil defence groups are moving into a field seen as increasingly important to Taiwan’s security. In a Chinese invasion scenario, unmanned systems could be particularly useful for frontline surveillance across the island’s mountainous terrain.

In Ukraine, drone pilots fly thousands of attack missions each day. Military officials estimate drones account for 60% of Russians killed and wounded.

The main goal of the course is not to arm civilians, Tang says, but people can “move from passive defence like sheltering to a more active role in observing risks and sharing information”.

“I may not be a soldier, but if [a China invasion] ever happened here, as a citizen, I’d like to have the ability to help in some way,” says one participant, who asked to remain anonymous because they work at a defence company with links to the government.

Lighter than 100 grams, the drones in the class are entirely Taiwanese-made, with no GPS or self-driving technology.

The reason is simple: operators need to learn how to fly by sight and manual reflexes in modern warfare, as automated commercial drones may fail due to electronic jamming.

The choice also aligns with Taiwan’s recent efforts to build a “China-free” global supply chain for unmanned aerial vehicles. However, a special defence budget recently passed by the opposition-dominated legislature stripped out funding for domestic drone production.

Taiwan produces some weapons domestically but remains heavily reliant on US arms sales for major defence systems. Donald Trump has yet to sign a $14bn arms package for the island after meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing last month.

For Taiwanese citizens like Pan, domestic political divisions and growing uncertainty over US-Taiwan relations reinforce their desire to take part in civil defence activities.

“We can’t change the broader environment, so the only thing we can do is prepare ourselves as best we can,” Pan says.