Delivery of long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and medium-range FGM-148 Javelin missiles from the US is expected to be completed ahead of schedule, despite delays of other equipment, a Ministry of National Defense official said yesterday.
The ministry’s budget for this year shows more than 20 purchases of weapons-related packages from the US, with 18 listed as open budget items.
Delivery of three items has been delayed, two items are to arrive earlier than planned and 13 are running on schedule.
Photo: Reuters
The US government has been making improvements to meet schedules, as it has realized that delays would significantly affect Taiwan’s national security, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Delivery and installation of the 18 HIMARS, which were purchased along with 11 Army Tactical Missile Systems and precision rocket systems for NT$3.25 billion (US$100.53 million), would be completed as early as 2026, the official said.
Delivery of 400 Javelin missile systems, an anti-tank weapon, for NT$3.43 billion would be completed by the end of this year, they said.
Of the Javelin systems, 251 were delivered in early March — 51 more than initially scheduled, they said.
Separately, the ministry has purchased 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks from the US, 38 of which are scheduled to be delivered this year, its budget showed.
Of those that are not yet delivered, 42 are to arrive next year and the remaining 28 in 2026, it showed.
The budget for the tanks was NT$40.52 billion from 2019 to 2027, it showed.
At the end of last year, 14 of the tanks had been delivered to the army, which is having personnel trained on their use at a US military base, the ministry said in a report to the legislature.
The tanks are to be deployed in northern Taiwan, the report added.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS