The Ministry of National Defense has signed a NT$135 million (US$4.1 million) deal for M67 fragmentation hand grenades with the American Institute in Taiwan, a government procurement notice showed.
According to the notice posted yesterday on the government’s procurement Web site, the deal inked by the Defense Mission to the US on July 19 was a single-source contract being implemented from last month to December 2028.
Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) is listed as the place of the contract’s implementation.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
The ministry has requested that the legislature to authorize a NT$103 million deal for obtaining US-made grenades, it said in this year’s budget proposal.
Local media previously reported that the sum is equivalent to the buying price for 730,000 hand grenades.
The M67 is a design originating in the Vietnam War that features a more powerful explosive filler, a more reliable fuse and a smooth metal casing that produces deadlier fragments than previous designs.
In other news, a military source on Thursday said that precision live-fire missile drills are set to be conducted in southern Taiwan later this month and feature the domestically developed Chien Hsiang loitering munition.
The annual drills are to be held in areas around Jiupeng Base in Pingtung’s Manzhou Township (滿州) from Aug. 20 to 22, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The military is to conduct live-fire exercises with indigenous Hsiung Feng-II and Hsiung Feng-III anti-ship missiles, the Tien-Kung III land-based surface-to-air missile, as well as the US-made Patriot PAC-2 surface-to-air system, the source said.
The exercises would also involve the Chien Hsiang loitering munition developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the source said, adding that the institute has already delivered two variants of the Chien Hsiang.
A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, is a kind of aerial weapon with a built-in warhead that is typically designed to loiter around a target area until a target is located, then attack by crashing into it.
During the three-day exercises, coast guard patrol vessels are expected to be equipped with anti- ship missiles to train alongside the navy’s warships, the source said.
According to a notice released by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the areas that are to be affected would include Taitung and Pingtung counties, as well as Green Island (綠島), Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and the Hengchun Peninsula.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS