There are 19 weapons purchases worth US$22 billion that have been approved by the US Congress, but await delivery to Taiwan until 2027 or later, a US House of Representatives report said on Wednesday.
The report was written by the Foreign Military Sales Technical, Industrial and Governmental Engagement for Readiness (TIGER) Task Force convened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in June last year.
The eight-member bipartisan task force aims to study legislative improvements to foreign military sales processes led by the US Department of State amid delays in deliveries to US partners and allies, it said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Such delays raise concern that partners might turn to other sources, harming US influence and defense manufacturing, it said.
The summary raises Taiwan in particular as an example, saying that 19 outstanding purchases await delivery in 2027 or later.
Some cases do not even have a delivery date, it said, adding that the “process as it functions today fails to meet the challenges posed by the most dangerous national security environment since World War II.”
The delays are a result of policy decisions, prioritization of other conflicts and issues with manufacturing, which is not optimized for wartime production, the report said.
It also cited consolidation in the defense industry, which has made the industry more efficient, but lowered competition incentive to invest in production capacity.
The report offers suggestions for improving legislative bottlenecks, including adjustments for inflation, regular reviews, better funding the Special Defense Acquisition Fund, enhancing exportability and improving communication.
“As we’ve learned with recent conflicts, it’s critical the US help arm our partners and allies like Taiwan in advance, and we hope these reforms will help deter future aggression,” US Representative Mike Waltz, a coleader of the task force, said in a news release.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS