The military has allocated funds to buy more M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers from the US after canceling its original plan to purchase M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers, a proposed defense budget showed yesterday.
The proposal, which was sent to the legislature for review, indicates that the army is planning to buy 29 HIMARS, a truck-mounted, multiple-launch system, 18 more than originally planned.
It is also aiming to buy 84 ATACMS, a long-range guided missile system, up from 64 that it originally wanted, as well as 864 precision rockets that can be used by HIMARS, which has a strike distance of 300km, the proposal showed.
Photo: AFP
The total budget is set at NT$32.5 billion (US$1.07 billion), with the first batch of 11 HIMARS expected to be delivered in 2024 if the order is made, the proposal showed.
The plan is to provide high-precision, high-mobility, long-distance firepower to Taiwan’s frontline islands to eliminate invading enemy forces, as it would be difficult to quickly reinforce such locations, the army said.
The decision to buy more HIMARS was made after the army decided not to buy 40 Paladins, with the Ministry of National Defense in May saying that the US informed it that the self-propelled howitzers would not be delivered on time due to inadequate production capacity.
Instead, Washington proposed other long-range, precision-strike weapon systems such as HIMARS, the ministry said in a news release at the time.
The government last week announced its general budget plan for fiscal 2023, which showed an increase in proposed spending on national defense next year of nearly 14 percent, or more than NT$70 billion, from this year.
The money would fund the development of domestically built warships and warplanes, improve equipment and weaponry for troops, boost the nation’s reserve forces and develop asymmetrical warfare tactics, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan and the US have signed a NT$21.7 billion deal for four MQ-9B SeaGuardian aerial drones with ground control stations and other support systems, with the units scheduled for delivery in 2025.
The deal inked by the air force and the American Institute in Taiwan is implemented through December 2029, when installation of the support systems is to be completed, the ministry said in a contract notice yesterday.
The contract’s implementation timetable is a year longer than previously negotiated.
The price tag includes NT$16.88 billion for the drones themselves, with the remainder for control stations, technical training and operational expenses related to the procurement, it said.
The implementation of the contract would take place partially or entirely in Hualien County, it said.
A defense official said that the drones would boost the military due to their long loiter time, all-weather observation and surveillance sensors, and their ability to launch airstrikes.
The drones can directly support combat troops, or disrupt enemy operations, the official said.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
RSS