The US is soon to send Taiwan a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) to officially seal a tank deal, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The US Department of State in July approved the possible sale to Taiwan of weapons and related equipment worth more than US$2.2 billion.
However, the ministry has since not made public any progress regarding the purchase, which involves 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles, 409 FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
The Republic of China Army yesterday said that the deal is moving forward smoothly and is on schedule.
The US is expected to send Taiwan an LOA “in the near future,” as the deal is in the final stage of a bilateral review process, the army said in a statement.
Once Taiwan receives the LOA, it would further evaluate its military needs before signing it and sending it back to the US to be finalized, the statement said.
Once a request is made, if the US approves it, Washington sends Taipei an LOA detailing its offer, the ministry said, citing official procedure.
Taiwan then reviews the offer and completes a proposal for the procurement project before sending the LOA back to the US.
US government branches review the proposal before Washington notifies the US Congress of the sale and the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency makes the deal public.
The process is completed when both sides sign the LOA, the ministry said.
That is the process in theory, but for this sale, the agency made the deal public in July, before the US sent an LOA to Taiwan.
The ministry said that the M1A2 tanks are meant to replace some of the nation’s aging M60A3 Patton and CM-11 Brave Tiger tanks that have been in service for more than 20 years.
If the purchase is finalized, the tanks are all to be assigned to the Sixth Army Corps, which is responsible for the security of northern Taiwan, where most central government agencies are located, the ministry said.
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