In a first for Taiwan, the State Department on Tuesday night said has approved two potential foreign military sales (FMS) of suicide drones worth a combined $360.2 million to the island nation.
If ultimately approved, the Altius 600M-V and Switchblade 300 systems would be a new capability for Taiwan, a State Department official told Defense Daily on Thursday.
The largest deal, $300 million, is for 291 Anduril Industries-built Altius 600M-V loitering munitions with extensible warheads and electro-optical/infrared cameras. The loitering munition can remain airborne for more than four hours and weighs up to 27 pounds, Anduril says on its website. It also features multiple warhead and seeker options.
Anduril says its Altius platform is autonomous and that one operator can control multiple systems. It also says that platform—Anduril also offers the larger Altius 700M—has “demonstrated autonomous coordinated strike, target recognition and collaborative teaming.”
The State Department said the Altius FMS deal also includes inert training unmanned aerial vehicles, pneumatic integrated launch systems and transport trailers, ground control systems, support, spares and battery chargers, and related training.
The second proposed FMS, worth $60.2 million, is for 720 AeroVironment [AVAV] Switchblade 300 anti-personnel and anti-armor all up round (AUR) loitering munitions, including 35 fly-to-buy AURs and 101 SB300 fire control systems. The U.S. has provided the Switchblade 300 to Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russia’s illegal invasion of their country.
The tube-launched Switchblade 300 weighs four pounds and can provide tactical reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition for more than 20 minutes
The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, which promotes business relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, lauded the pending FMS deal. The sale “adds substantially to Taiwan’s inventory of mobile smart munitions, which can be used during on-island fighting all the way through to attacking PLA assets off Taiwan’s coastline,” Rubert Hammond-Chambers, council president, said in a statement on Wednesday. “As these munitions are deployed and local personnel is trained to handle them, we should expect Taiwan to grow their inventory of both munitions.”
Hammond-Chambers highlighted that Taiwanese companies and their foreign partners are developing home-grown “mobile smart munitions,” adding that he expects Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense “to also start procuring locally to meet their defensive requirements.”