The US is to deliver High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to Taiwan a year ahead of schedule, in 2026, with the delivery being expedited in response to rising military tensions across the Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Taiwan agreed to buy 29 HIMARS worth NT$32.5 billion (US$1.06 billion), including an initial order of 11 systems and an additional 18 to replace 40 M109A6 self-propelled howitzers, Lee Shih-Chiang (李世強), director of the ministry’s Department of Strategic Planning, told lawmakers on Thursday.
The first 11 systems are on sechedule, to be delivered next year or in 2025, while the additional 18 are to arrive in 2026, ahead of the planned 2027 or 2028 delivery, Lee said.
Photo: AP
The army’s procurement of rocket artillery systems and ammunition additionally includes 84 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs) with a nominal range of 300km and 864 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), with a nominal effective range of 42km, he said.
Separately, retired admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), convener of the Presidential Office’s indigenous submarine task force, said yesterday that the nation is on track to put the first indigenous submarine to sea in September.
He made the remark at a National Taiwan Ocean University event discussing the nation’s shipbuilding programs.
Submarines are crucial for Taiwanese security, as the nation’s geostrategic position on the first island chain is better suited for a defensive posture based on submarine warfare than strength-on-strength surface action, Huang said.
The nation’s security strategy should involve improving the capability of the armed forces and banding with other democratic nations to form a defensive alliance in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Taiwan began efforts to obtain submarines under former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) administration, but the first attempts were unsuccessful due to diplomatic constraints, Huang said.
The indigenous defense submarine program was proposed near the end of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term and continued by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), he said.
Precision strike missiles, submarines, undersea vessels, missile-firing boats, and mines and minelayers must be developed to defend the maritime logistical lifelines the nation depends on for gas and strategic resources, Huang said.
The university is at the forefront of the nation’s bid to develop AI-based autonomous uncrewed undersea vessels, and a prototype has successfully completed an one-hour undersea voyage, university president Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat