The transfer of US arms to Taiwan is moving at a snail’s pace, at least for several major weapons systems, a draft report to the US Congress showed.
The annual report for this year, under review by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said only four of 60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, for instance, were on order as of the middle of last month, even though the administration of US President Barack Obama notified lawmakers of their planned sale to Taipei in January last year.
Moreover, it said Taiwan had “obligated,” or committed to, only 9 percent of a projected US$2.5 billion price tag for 30 Apache attack helicopters, a deal that former US president George W. Bush presented to Congress in October 2008.
The lag between the formal notification of a proposed US arms sale, a step required by law, and contracting for and delivery of hardware can raise questions about the lack of urgency on the US or Taiwan side, despite what both describe as China’s growing military edge over Taiwan.
The report shines light on the normally murky matter of an arms sale’s status after a statutory 30-day congressional review period. A copy of the draft was obtained by Reuters before the scheduled Nov. 16 delivery of a final version to Congress. The 12-member bipartisan commission was created by Congress in 2000 to study the national security implications of US-China trade.
Taiwan’s defense budget reached a five-year low of US$9.2 billion this year, or about 2.2 percent of GDP, the report said. The US spends roughly twice that proportion on its military.
Taiwan signed a government-to-government agreement in 2009 for the Apache helicopters, according to an Oct. 21 update of a report on Taiwan arms sales by the US Congressional Research Service, citing Defense News, a trade publication.
Delivery of those helicopters is not expected to start until at least 2014, the commission’s draft said in a footnote, or five years after the framework agreement was signed.
The Black Hawk helicopters are built by United Technologies Corp’s Sikorsky unit, and the Apaches by Boeing Co. Both companies referred questions about the status of Taiwan’s orders to the US government, which acts as a middleman in foreign military sales.
China describes US arms sales to Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs. Beijing suspended military-to-military ties with the US last year in retaliation for Obama’s notification of five major arms sales to Taiwan, with a total potential value of US$6.4 billion, including the 60 Black Hawks.
The US-China commission’s draft report said budgetary constraints could be hampering Taiwan’s progress toward developing indigenous defense capabilities. It also cited a news account quoting Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesperson David Lo (羅紹和) as blaming US production delays, not funding shortfalls in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s unofficial embassy in Washington, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, declined to comment on the matter.
The report drew attention to the uncertain status of 114 Patriot PAC-3 missiles, a potential US$2.8 billion deal also presented to lawmakers by Obama in January last year that includes three AN/MSQ-65 radar sets and related gear. Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co are the prime contractors.
It was not immediately clear how many of the missiles had been placed on order for Taiwan so far. At least some were included in an Army purchase of 226 in December last year that also covered the United Arab Emirates, a US Army Contracting Command notice showed.
Lockheed had no production or delivery delays to any of its missile customers, company spokeswoman Cheryl Amerine said, adding that the usual lag from contract award to first delivery was 16 months.
None of the three Patriot--related radar sets cited in the notification to Congress in January last year has yet been placed on order.
Raytheon has been meeting or beating production and delivery goals on all existing Patriot contracts, company spokesman Jonathan Kasle said.
The Obama administration notified Congress in September of three planned arms sales to Taiwan with a potential value of about US$5.9 billion, including upgrades for Taiwan’s current batch of 145 F-16A/B fighters.
The commission’s draft report recommends Congress enact legislation requiring the administration to accept a formal Taiwanese request for 66 new Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D aircraft, a potential US$8.2 billion deal.
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