A proposal to purchase 12 MH-60R anti-submarine military helicopters from the US is likely to be canceled due to the high cost of the aircraft, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) told lawmakers yesterday.
The navy was set to allocate NT$34 billion (US$1.15 billion) for the helicopters to replace its aging fleet.
However, a local defense expert in late February told local media that the US Department of State had rejected the proposal on the grounds that it “does not conform to the principle of asymmetric combat power.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Asked about the issue, Chiu told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that the Ministry of National Defense was close to dropping the purchase, but the reason was not due to US pressure, but because the cost was “too high and beyond our capability.”
Chiu added that the military had been pushing the US to honor a contract to deliver 250 Raytheon Technologies Stinger missiles to Taiwan on schedule, after his ministry was told that delivery might be delayed due to Ukrainian demands for weapons needed to fight the Russian invasion.
He said that the ministry would make sure that the US follows the terms stipulated in the contract to deliver the missiles on time.
The ministry has contingency plans in place to ensure that its overall plan to boost the nation’s combat readiness is not jeopardized due to the delay, he said, adding that the ministry is to finalize the plans before September.
The US approved the sale of 250 Raytheon Technologies Stinger missiles to Taiwan in 2019. Local media have reported that the deliveries are expected by 2026.
This is the second time this week that the military has said that deliveries of US-made weapons could be delayed.
The ministry on Monday said that the US had notified it that the M109-A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers would not be delivered on schedule due to inadequate production capacity.
Taiwan’s military was originally set to take delivery of the first eight Paladins next year before receiving 16 each in 2024 and 2025.
However, Washington told the ministry that it would not be able to deliver the first batch of Paladins to Taiwan until 2026 at the earliest due to inadequate production capability.
Instead, Washington proposed alternative long-range precision strike weapon systems such as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, which have a strike distance of 300km when carrying M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems.
In other news, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley on Tuesday talked about the possibility of Beijing attacking Taiwan by 2027.
It remains to be seen whether China could build up the necessary capability, but “we must remember” its goal regardless, the Chinese-language Voice of America quoted Milley as saying during a US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing.
“We are entering a less stable world” where the possibility of serious conflict between major powers is increasing, he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been clear about his goal of preparing the People’s Liberation Army to invade Taiwan, but this does not mean that he is going to invade — only that he has the ability to do so, Milley added.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
RSS