The Ministry of National Defense has signed formal agreements with the US government to buy as many as 1,000 attack drones from defense contractor AeroVironment and defense tech firm Anduril Industries, according to people in the industry familiar with the transaction.
Taiwan signed a “letter of offer and acceptance” late last month, the step before signed contracts that specify quantities, dollar values and delivery dates.
Those contracts could be signed soon, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the unannounced action.
Photo: Bloomberg
A US Department of State spokesperson declined to comment on any pending Taiwan sales.
Attack drones have burgeoned into a major component of modern warfare. Russian and Ukrainian forces have deployed thousands of drones to spy on each other and to carry out attacks in their ongoing war, while unmanned aerial vehicles were used in an Iranian attack on Israel in April.
The transactions demonstrate “that both Taiwan and the US are learning important lessons from the combat in Ukraine, and turning that knowledge into future procurement,” said Rear Admiral (Ret) Mark Montgomery, a senior director with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, who has traveled to Taiwan to assess its defense needs.
In June, the US Department of State notified Congress that it had approved the sale of as many as 291 Anduril Altius 600M-V systems valued at US$300 million and as many as 720 AeroVironment Switchblade 300 “B” model drones valued at as much as US$60 million.
According to Anduril, its Altius 600M-V is a multi-mission aerial vehicle that allows a single operator to control multiple drones. It has a range of about 160km and a flight time of almost two hours.
AeroVironment’s 1.8kg model can loiter over a target for as long as 20 minutes and is equipped with a specialized anti-armor warhead. It has a range of about 30km.
Representatives at Taiwan’s office in Washington declined to comment, as did the US-Taiwan Business Council.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
Academics have expressed mixed views on President William Lai’s (賴清德) nomination of High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) as a Constitutional Court justice and the head of the nation’s top judicial body. While prosecutors have served as justices at the Constitutional Court over the years, including Judy Ju (朱富美), an incumbent, the appointment of a prosecutor as president of the Judicial Yuan, which presides over the Constitutional Court, would be unprecedented. Retired law professor Lin Teng-yao (林騰鷂) said that Tsai’s nomination was an “abuse” of power by Lai, and called on the legislature, in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
RSS