US progresses additional Taiwan defence sales

The United States government is preparing further defence sales to Taiwan as part of its new policy of dealing with military-capability requests from Taipei on a rolling basis. The new deals follow two other defence-sales announcements by President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year.

Janes understands that sales of three military systems are currently progressing through the US notification process. These include Lockheed Martin M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, Boeing Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missiles, and external sensor pods for Taiwan’s Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft.

The sales were first reported by Reuters on 12 October and were previewed by the news agency in mid-September. A US Department of State spokesperson told Janes, “As a matter of policy the [State] Department does not publicly confirm or comment on proposed defence sales until they have been formally notified to Congress.”

The new sales come after the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced in July that the State Department had approved a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) request from Taiwan for the recertification of the island’s Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) air-defence missiles for an estimated USD620 million.

In May the DSCA also announced that the State Department had approved a potential USD180 million FMS deal to supply Taiwan with additional Lockheed Martin MK 48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology (AT) heavyweight torpedoes, along with related equipment and services.