Delivery of F-16 jets and attending equipment would be delayed, while the second batch of the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is ahead of schedule and would be delivered by next year, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The ministry’s budget for this year, delivered to the Legislative Yuan yesterday, and the special budget for the government’s procurement of new fighter jets showed that the remaining 15 purchases are on schedule.
Programs on schedule include the shore-mounted Harpoon Coastal Defense System, the purchases of M1A2T Abrams Main Battle Tanks (MBT) and 74 tankers, the ministry said.
Photo: AFP
The Harpoon missile system, consisting of 32 vehicle launcher systems and 128 missiles, was part of a NT$71 billion (US$2.2 billion) deal approved in 2020. The full delivery is scheduled for completion in 2028.
Thirty-eight of the 108 M1A2 tanks were delivered in December last year, with two additional shipments of 42 tanks each expected to arrive this year and next.
The ministry attributed the fighter jet delays to two issues, the first being the delayed delivery of the AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapon missiles — which the air force’s F-16V jets are equipped with from 2023 to next year — due to US production capabilities and trial times.
Second, the newly built F-16 block 70 jets have just rolled off Lockheed-Martin’s production lines and are undergoing ground tests, with the first jets expected to be flown back to Taiwan next year.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Thursday last week said that Taiwan intends to send deputy minister-level officials, accompanied by the air force’s deputy chief of staff, to attend the ceremonial event in the US marking the jet’s completion.
The ministry purchased 29 HIMARS and 84 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) last year, with the first batch of 11 HIMARS and 64 ATACMS arriving that same year.
The remaining 18 HIMARS are expected to be delivered next year, ahead of the originally scheduled 2027, the ministry said.
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