The US military has announced plans to sell Taiwan 40 Javelin portable anti-tank missile launchers and 360 missiles worth US$51 million to help foil any attempt by China to land tanks during an invasion of Taiwan.
The sale, which is expected to take place next year, will enhance Taiwan's "medium anti-tank capabilities for the infantry, scout and combat engineers," the Pentagon said.
The missiles will provide Taiwan with "a strong anti-landing capability and will increase interoperability with US forces," said the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which handles foreign weapons sales for the Pentagon.
"The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic military balance in the region," it added.
The command launch units, when loaded with a missile, weigh a little over 22kg. They can be readied for launch in less than 30 seconds and offer "fire-and-forget" capability. The system's target acquisition and fire control system feature infrared imaging, offering night and day attack capability at a range of up to 2.5km.
A Taiwanese military analyst said yesterday that the Javelin missiles will become the army's main weapon to defend against China's new tanks, whose armor cannot be penetrated by most of the anti-tank missiles currently in service in the army.
"The Javelin can attack a tank from above. The top of a tank is its weakest part. Most of the army's current anti-tank missiles do not have such top-attack capabilities," said Chang Li-teh (張立德), a senior editor with Defense Technology Monthly magazine.
"The army plans to buy 360 Javelin missiles. The [latest sale] may not be enough for it to build up a sufficient defense power against China's new tanks," Chang said. "The army will likely seek to buy more of the missiles."
"This development is something to be expected since the announced cost [US$51 million] for the 360 Javelin missiles, 40 missile command launch units, and associated equipment and services seems too high. It must involve costs for a follow-on purchase of the same weapons system," he said.
Chang said he could not understand why the Javelin missile system was described by the US Department of Defense as being capable of increasing "interoperability" with US forces.
"The weapons system is not that complicated. How could it increase our interoperability with US forces?" he said.
Asked for its reaction to the US' agreement to sell the Javelin missiles to Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said it was content with the sale, but declined to comment further.
The Javelin missiles sale is the third weapons deal announced this year. In September, the US said it planned to sell 40 AGM-65G Maverick missiles -- costing US$18 million -- for use with US-supplied F-16 aircraft against any amphibious assault.
Those missiles, the Pentagon said, have a greater range than the existing AGM-65B missiles and will increase aircraft survivability.
In July, the Pentagon announced plans for the US$725 million sale of sophisticated communications equipment.
In April, during the annual arms sales discussions between Taiwan and the US in Washington, the Bush administration agreed to a multi-billion-dollar package of weapons sales to Taiwan.
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