The government expects to receive a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) from the US next month to officially seal a sale of M1A2 Abrams tanks, the Ministry of National Defense said on Monday.
Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yang Hai-ming (楊海明) made the announcement at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee when asked by lawmakers about the timetable for the arms deal.
The US Department of State in July provisionally approved the sale of 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles, 409 FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. The deal is worth more than US$2.2 billion.
However, Taiwan has not yet received an LOA, causing opposition lawmakers to question whether the procurement remains on schedule.
Talks on the matter are ongoing and the US has promised that Taiwan would receive an LOA soon, Yang said.
Asked whether an LOA could be signed next month, Yang gave a positive response.
In addition, the military and Lockheed Martin — which produces the tank’s 120mm gun — are also in talks over a request for the US company to transfer 12 pieces of defense technology to Taiwan, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) told lawmakers.
One of the requests involves transferring technology used in the production of the gun and its ammunition to Taiwanese companies so that they could be produced locally, ministry Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Fang Mao-hung (房茂宏) said.
Another involves asking the US firm to instruct local companies on maintaining the tanks, he added.
When the US approves a weapons sale, it sends an LOA to Taiwan detailing its offer, the ministry said, citing the procedure for arms procurement from the US.
Taiwan then reviews the offer and completes a proposal for the procurement project before sending the LOA back to the US.
US government agencies review the proposal before the US government 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.
However, for this sale, Washington notified Congress and the agency made the deal public in July, before the US sent an LOA.
The tanks would replace some of the military’s aging M60A3 Patton and CM-11 Brave Tiger tanks, which have been in service for more than 20 years, the ministry said.
The tanks would all be assigned to the Sixth Army Corps, which is responsible for the security of northern Taiwan, where most central government agencies are located, the military said.
The army is scheduled to take delivery of the first batch of about a dozen M1A2 tanks in 2022 in the US, the military said, adding that the first batch would arrive in Taiwan in 2023.
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