The US-Taiwan Business Council called a potential US$2 billion US arms sale package to Taiwan “an important development” and commended both sides for coming to an agreement.
The package is made up of US$1.16 billion in missile systems, and US$828 million in radar systems.
The missile systems are three National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), which are being exported to Taiwan for the first time and would make it only the third country in the region with access to them after Australia and Indonesia, according to US Defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and the radars are AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 systems.
Photo: Screen grab from RTX Web site
NASAMS have been deployed in Ukraine, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called them “proven” in a statement expressing thanks on Friday last week.
The missiles and radar “serve as a significant step forward in the modernization of Taiwan’s air-defense architecture” said the council’s president, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, adding that they represent a “significant broadening” of US President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach to Taiwan’s defense.
The council has often commented on defense matters relating to the two countries, as it hosts the annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference which brings together officials and experts from both nations.
Hammond-Chambers went on to say that this program should lead to “greater consideration of all the military threats posed to Taiwan,” as the radar systems will allow for much more maritime and aerial surveillance of Taiwan to defend against “gray zone” activities by China.
The NASAMS will be integrated into a defense architecture that already includes Patriot-III missile, also American, and Taiwan’s domestically developed Tien-Kung III missile defenses, the statement read.
He called on Taiwan’s military to further strengthen its defenses and ensure adequate supplies of ammunition and missile components in preparation for a conflict.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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