Delivery of long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and medium-range FGM-148 Javelin missiles from the US is expected to be completed ahead of schedule, despite delays of other equipment, a Ministry of National Defense official said yesterday.
The ministry’s budget for this year shows more than 20 purchases of weapons-related packages from the US, with 18 listed as open budget items.
Delivery of three items has been delayed, two items are to arrive earlier than planned and 13 are running on schedule.
Photo: Reuters
The US government has been making improvements to meet schedules, as it has realized that delays would significantly affect Taiwan’s national security, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Delivery and installation of the 18 HIMARS, which were purchased along with 11 Army Tactical Missile Systems and precision rocket systems for NT$3.25 billion (US$100.53 million), would be completed as early as 2026, the official said.
Delivery of 400 Javelin missile systems, an anti-tank weapon, for NT$3.43 billion would be completed by the end of this year, they said.
Of the Javelin systems, 251 were delivered in early March — 51 more than initially scheduled, they said.
Separately, the ministry has purchased 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks from the US, 38 of which are scheduled to be delivered this year, its budget showed.
Of those that are not yet delivered, 42 are to arrive next year and the remaining 28 in 2026, it showed.
The budget for the tanks was NT$40.52 billion from 2019 to 2027, it showed.
At the end of last year, 14 of the tanks had been delivered to the army, which is having personnel trained on their use at a US military base, the ministry said in a report to the legislature.
The tanks are to be deployed in northern Taiwan, the report added.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’