Taiwan and the US have sealed a NT$3.8 billion (US$130.5 million) deal for 460 TOW-2B Aero radio frequency (RF)-controlled anti-tank missiles, which are to be delivered to Taiwan annually starting this year, with the final batch to be received by June 2024, a Ministry of National Defense source said yesterday.
The TOW-2B missiles are superior to the TOW-2A missiles the military currently uses in that they are wirelessly controlled rather than wire-guided, the source said.
The RF capability allows the missiles to more easily damage or paralyze enemy tanks by attacking them at more vulnerable points, the source said.
Photo: Lo Tien-bin, Taipei Times
After delivery of the missiles, the army’s anti-tank companies — on both Taiwan proper and its outlying islands — would have priority in deploying the missiles, the source said.
The TOW-2B’s maximum range of 4.5km allows it to be used not only in ground battles, but also to prevent enemy landings by engaging hovercraft and amphibious landing vehicles, the source said.
The sale is part of an arms package announced by the US in December 2015, originally for 769 TOW-2B RF missiles along with training equipment and support systems for a total of US$268 million, the source said.
After assessing the military’s equipment, the ministry elected to purchase 460 missiles due to a healthy number of TOW-2A missiles still in use, the source said.
The move was also a means to incentivize the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) to make breakthroughs in research and development and produce anti-tank weaponry on a par with the TOW-2B, the source said.
The deal was officially signed by the Taiwanese defense attache and the American Institute in Taiwan, and was promulgated by the ministry on Thursday.
The CSIST is building missiles based on the Kestrel anti-armor rocket and has achieved multiple breakthroughs on key technologies, adding it is possible that the final product could produce an anti-tank missile at the level of the portable F6M-1HB Javelin or the TOW-2B.
The CSIST has also developed a Kestrel variant that can reach targets more than 1,200m away, a drastic improvement over the current Kestrel, which only has a range of 400m, the source said.
The CSIST’s Kestrel variant would be able to penetrate up to 400mm of rolled homogenous armor, which is an improvement on the original Kestrel’s penetration rate of 300mm, the source added.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he