Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

kliu0 said:

Yes both US and French arms are overpriced....any is overpriced for Taiwan. But the question not really lies with the actual product purchase price, but with the ongoing cost of maintenance and availability of parts. 9 Mirages were mothballed recently due to a lack of spare parts....

Is it just me or is it extremely hard to get anything from the French these days. The news was first released out into the public from sometime last year and the ROCAF has virtually been begging the French for parts and yet officials say spare parts would arrive possibly at year end. One possibility/factor the govt doesn't want to buy more arms sales from the French unless they are at a dead end with the US.

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News agency Reuters also quoted remarks by US state department official Robert Kovac that the United States would sell four Type 214 submarines to Taiwan.

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Mr T said:

*Chokes on drink*

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I don't remember Reuters quoting Kovac on type 214s, but it could be that's what he was referring to. We'll have to see what a notification on submarines, if any, says.

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Semi-Lobster said:

Well the very same Type 214 is being built under license in South Korea right now, perhaps after the initial submarine sale, Taiwan could be allowed to build more itself?

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Pointblank said:

I believe there are a couple of Greek Type 214's currently sitting in limbo because the Greeks cancelled the purchase of them at a extremely late stage of the contract (at least 90%, with a few units pending delivery to customer). They could be an option.

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alopes said:

Is it a fear for some sort of technology spying over the F-16, by the PRC, on the part of USA government, or just simple political and economic pressure?

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In another point, what about the Saab JAS 39 Gripen? It appears to be a good 4th generation fighter, cheap and in production.

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The US defense company Raytheon has been given a US$1.1 billion contract to supply a new Patriot Air and Missile Defense System to Taiwan. Former US president George W. Bush approved the sale last year and it took 14 months to reach this stage.

The contract comes just as US President Barack Obama is expected to inform Congress that he has approved a new arms package for Taiwan. That announcement could come at any time.

Raytheon president Daniel Smith said on Wednesday night in Washington: “The Patriot system is a vital element to providing superior integrated air and missile defense capabilities for the protection of Taiwan. Raytheon has provided advanced technology, *innovation and support for Taiwan for more than 40 years, and we are honored to continue that partnership today and in the future.”

The contract, issued by the US Army Aviation and Missile Command, is in two parts. The first, for US$965.6 million, covers the missile launchers or “ground-*system hardware,” while the second, for US$134.4 million, is for spare parts. The actual missiles will be covered in yet another contract to be issued shortly. Raytheon has annual sales of US$23 billion.

While details of the Patriot system remain highly classified, the version now being sold to Taiwan is known to be more advanced, more accurate and more reliable than the older system now in use. It is designed to intercept and destroy incoming ballistic missiles. China has more than 1,000 such missiles aimed at Taiwan.

Beijing strongly objected to the sale when it was first announced and is expected to raise further objections now that it is definitely going ahead.

The new arms package to be announced soon is expected to include UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and more “advanced capability” Patriot missiles, known as PAC-3 missiles.

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