Taiwan has signed a NT$24.99 billion (US$761 million) procurement contract with the US for three Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to aid air defense capabilities in northern Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The contract was signed by the Defense Mission to the US and the American Institute in Taiwan, amounting to nearly NT$24.99 billion with a six-year time limit for contract performance that runs from Jan. 14 through Dec. 31, 2030, the ministry said in a statement published on the Government e-Procurement System yesterday.
The NASAMS would be delivered to Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), where they are expected to be deployed, it said.
Photo: screen grab from the Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace Web site
A source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that there is a chance of the first NASAMS being delivered by the end of this year.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on Oct. 25 last year said that the US Department of State had approved three arms sales to Taiwan, including the NASAMS, an L-band AN/TPS-77 long-range radar system and an S-band AN/TPS-78 long-range radar system, which were initially projected to cost about NT$65.2 billion.
The ministry last month said that contracts for the three arms procurements would be signed and delivered by 2034.
The ministry signed four procurement contracts for NASAMS with the US which cost NT$49.3 billion, much less than the NT$65.2 billion estimated and announced by the US government, the source said.
The actual expenditure could be lower because it depends on raw material prices, production costs, order quantities and competing buyers, the source said.
As the ministry’s budget for NASAMS procurement remains classified for this fiscal year, the actual amount of the procurement would not be unveiled until the classified budget is disclosed next year, they said.
According to the DSCA, the new procurement of three NASAMS also included 123 AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, which have a range of up to 50km.
The missiles would be deployed in Taipei and New Taipei City to complete the air defense capabilities in that area in addition to the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, Tien Kung (Sky Bow), Lu Chien II (Land Sword II) and AN/TWQ-1 Avenger missile systems.
The use of NASAMS would boost operational flexibility, as they are compatible with the ammunition employed by F-16 aircraft, including AIM-120 missiles and AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles.
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
RSS