The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that it is about to sign formal agreements with the US government allowing it to buy as many as 1,000 attack drones from AeroVironment Inc and Anduril Industries Inc.
Taiwan signed a “letter of offer and acceptance” late last month, the step before signed contracts that specify quantities, proces and delivery dates.
The contracts could be signed soon, sources said, 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.
Department of Strategic Planning official Major-General Weng Yu-hen (翁予恒) said that the US is in the final contracting stage with the manufacturers and the formal transaction would happen according to plan after the contract is signed.
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 for attacks in their continuing warfare, while uncrewed 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 retired rear admiral Mark Montgomery, a senior director with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who has traveled to Taiwan to assess the nation’s defense needs.
In June, the US Department of State notified the US Congress that it approved the sale of as many as 291 Anduril Altius-600M 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.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s e-procurement system showed that the government had purchased 685 Switchblade 300 loitering munitions and related equipment at a cost of NT$1.74 billion (US$54.2 million), and 291 Altius-600M drone systems and related equipment at a cost of NT$3.53 billion, which are to be delivered by 2029 and 2027 respectively.
According to Anduril, its Altius 600M is a multimission aircraft that allows a single operator to control multiple drones. It has a range of about 160km and a maximum flight time of almost two hours.
AeroVironment’s four-pound (1.81kg) model can loiter over a target for as long as 20 minutes, is equipped with a specialized anti-armor warhead and has a range of about 30km.
Additional reporting by CNA
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