Taiwan is seeking to obtain more than $6.4 billion in American weapons including Patriot Advanced Capbility-3 (PAC-3) anti-missile interceptors, under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
The gigantic program also includes UGM-84L Harpoon Block II over-the-horizon anti-ship missiles, E-2T retrofit upgrades and Javelin guided missile systems.
PAC-3s are a Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] product. Harpoons are provided by The Boeing Co. [BA]. The Javelin shoulder-fire anti-armor weapon is a Lockheed/[RTN] system.
Those weapons would increase Taiwanese defense capabilities against foreign aggressors such as, possibly, China.
China has an enacted law stating that if Taiwan doesn’t agree to “reunify” with the mainland regime, soon, then China will invade and conquer Taiwan. The United States, however, has a vague commitment to defend Taiwan from any attack by China, which is a huge trading partner of the United States. China is pursuing an immense arms buildup which many analysts see as a move to block U.S. military forces. (Please see separate story in this issue.)
Taiwan for some time dithered in deciding to fund the major weapons acquisition package, and more recently the Bush administration had been slow to provide needed paperwork clearances.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the proposed sale includes: $3.1 billion for 330 PAC-3 missiles; $2.53 billion for 30 AH-64D Block III Apache Longbow attack helicopters; $334 million for the establishment of a blanket order requisition case for follow-on spare parts in support of F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft; $200 million for 32 UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles, $250 million for upgrades to four E-2T aircraft to the Hawkeye 2000 configuration; and $47 million for 182 Javelin guided missile rounds.
The sale includes associated equipment and services.
Other prime contractors involved in the package are: General Electric [GE]; Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC], Inter-Coastal Electronics; and BAE Systems.