The island has formally requested the purchase of 291 Altius 600M-V drones, 720 Switchblade 300 loitering missiles and military equipment for $360 million
The State Department of USA gave the green light to the possible sale of a combat drone and loitering missile system to Taiwan for an estimated value of $360.2 million (335 million euros), official sources on the island confirmed this Wednesday.
In a statement, the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) of Taiwan noted that unmanned aerial vehicles “have become a new tactical option for real combat,” adding that the acquired material will have “immediate reconnaissance and attack capabilities” against enemy “threats.”
“The Taiwan-US security management team continues to work hard to improve the efficiency of arms sales operations between the two sides. This time, the administrative review time has been significantly reduced. The MDN expresses special gratitude to the team of US security cooperation for their efforts in accelerating arms sales to Taiwan,” the official text indicated.
For its part, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the approval of this arms sale and valued the “commitment” of the United States to the “defense” of the island.
“We remain determined to defend peace through force amid the escalating aggression of China“, stated the island’s Foreign Ministry through its official X account.
In Washington, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) detailed that the Taiwan Representative Office in the United States requested the purchase of 291 Altius 600M-V drones and 720 Switchblade loitering missiles 300, as well as equipment related to these devices, for an amount of 300 and 60.2 million dollars (279 and 56 million euros), respectively.
The US Government has already provided Altius 600 and Switchblade 300 to the Ukrainian Army to contain the Russian invasion of its territory.
“The proposed sale serves the national, economic and security interests of the United States by supporting the recipient’s continued efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a credible defensive capability,” the DSCA said in a statement.
This sale of US military equipment to Taiwan, the 15th under the US president’s administration, Joe Bidencomes just two weeks after Washington approved Taipei’s possible acquisition of spare parts, components, supplies and accessories for the F-16 fighter for another $300 million.
Taiwan – where the Chinese nationalist army withdrew after defeat at the hands of communist troops in the civil war (1927-1949) – has been governed autonomously since the end of the war, although China claims sovereignty over the island. which he considers a rebellious province for whose “reunification” he has not ruled out the use of force.
The Taiwanese issue is one of the main points of friction between Beijing and Washington, since the US is Taipei’s main arms supplier and could defend the island in the event of a conflict.
