Tag: arms sales

Categories
Press Releases U.S. Government

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS of Naval Spare and Repair Parts to Taiwan

Press Release:
The US-Taiwan Business Council Comments on the Proposed Foreign Military Sale of Naval Spare and Repair Parts to Taiwan

(Arlington, Virginia, June 9, 2022)

The US-Taiwan Business Council today welcomed the announcement of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan of naval spare and repair parts, at an estimated cost of US$120 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certifications notifying Congress of the proposed Taiwan arms sale on June 8, 2022.

The published Congressional Notification (transmittal number 22-22) is for spare and repair parts for ships and ship systems, technical assistance, technical and logistical support, and other related elements of logistics support. The notification indicated that the equipment will be sourced from approved U.S. Navy vendors and/or U.S. Navy stock.

The US-Taiwan Business Council acknowledges the need for sustainment of Taiwan’s military. The upkeep of the Taiwan armed forces is an essential aspect of Taiwan’s overall force posture, and supports its efforts to ensure that its military operational rates are high.

Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said, “As the Biden Administration undertakes the most significant narrowing of U.S.-Taiwan security assistance since 1979, these types of notifications covering sustainment efforts are the most likely over the next 18-24 months. There appears to now be little to no U.S. support for substantial Taiwan force modernization efforts, so we should expect to see mostly sustainment and munitions programs through the remainder of President Biden’s term (or terms) in office.”

Hammond-Chambers added, “One significant impact this approach will have is to constrain force modernization for entire areas of Taiwan’s military capability. We are likely to see the loss of infrastructure, hollowing out of operational experience, and the loss of decades of expertise. Once lost, that expertise will not return to the Taiwan military. This creates new vulnerabilities for the Chinese military to exploit. Far from improving Taiwan security, as time progresses this new directed approach will supply the PLA with emerging areas of military weakness, heightening – not lessening – the likelihood of attack.”

Source: See the DSCA website at https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS of Naval Spare and Repair Parts to Taiwan
Categories
Press Releases U.S. Government

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS of Contractor Technical Assistance for Taiwan’s Patriot Air Defense System

Press Release:
The US-Taiwan Business Council Comments on the Proposed Foreign Military Sale of Contractor Technical Assistance for Taiwan’s Patriot Air Defense System

(Arlington, Virginia, April 6, 2022)

The US-Taiwan Business Council today welcomed the announcement of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan of Contractor Technical Assistance and related maintenance and sustainment articles and services for the Patriot Air Defense System, at an estimated cost of US$95 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certifications notifying Congress of the proposed Taiwan arms sale on April 5, 2022.

The published Congressional Notification (transmittal number 22-16) is for support of the Patriot Air Defense System in Taiwan, and helps underpin Taiwan’s efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability. It includes Contractor Technical Assistance support consisting of training, planning, fielding, deployment, operation, maintenance, and sustainment of the Patriot Air Defense System, associated equipment, and logistics support elements. It also includes Patriot Ground Support Equipment, spare parts, and consumables.

Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said: “The sustainment of Taiwan’s existing weapons systems is an essential commitment by its armed forces to maintain high operational rates for its legacy gear.” “The normalized and regularized process of assessing all requested weapons systems for Taiwan’s use must remain a top priority for the Biden Administration. That should entail the acceptance from Taiwan of Letters of Request (LoRs), so that a full inter-agency assessment – that includes the uniformed services – can ascertain the utility of the request.”

Source: See the DSCA website at https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS of Contractor Technical Assistance for Taiwan’s Patriot Air Defense System
Categories
Press Releases U.S. Government

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS in Support of Taiwan Participation in Patriot IESP & FSP

Press Release:
The US-Taiwan Business Council Comments on the Proposed Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan of Equipment and Services to Support Participation in Patriot IESP and FSP

(Arlington, Virginia, February 7, 2022)

The US-Taiwan Business Council today welcomed the announcement of a possible Foreign Military Sale of equipment and services to support Taiwan’s participation in the Patriot International Engineering Services Program (IESP) and Field Surveillance Program (FSP) for five years, at an estimated cost of US$100 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certifications notifying Congress of the proposed Taiwan arms sale on February 7, 2022.

The published Congressional Notification (transmittal number 21-66) is for engineering services support designed to sustain, maintain, and improve the Patriot Air Defense System in Taiwan. It includes missile field surveillance support for legacy (Guidance Enhanced Missile (GEM)) and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, to ensure the reliability and performance of the Patriot missile through storage and aging programs, surveillance firing programs, and configuration management. It is also for legacy and PAC-3 missile stockpile reliability testing, to provide quantitative reliability assessments of the deployed missile round. The potential sale also includes engineering, technical, and logistics support, as well as other related elements of program support. Participation in the shared IESP and FSP for the life of the Patriot system is a requirement of the U.S. government.

Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said: “The Biden Administration’s commitment to ensure that Taiwan’s military equipment is well supported and maintained is welcome. While ongoing force modernization is essential to combat the growing threat from China, maintenance of Taiwan’s existing equipment is similarly crucial. Taiwan and the U.S. should also seek to integrate Taiwan’s missile defense capabilities into America’s regional architecture, including cooperation with allies such as Japan and Australia.”

Source: See the DSCA website at https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales

USTBC Comments on the Proposed FMS in Support of Taiwan Participation in Patriot IESP & FSP
Categories
U.S. Government

Taiwan Arms Sales Notified to Congress 1990-2021

Updated Charts: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2021

Notified Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2021 - Amount
Notified Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2021 - Number of Notifications

Taiwan Arms Sales notified to Congress from 1990 to August 4, 2021. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) only, in US$ billion and by number of notifications.

Sources:

– FMS Data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency at http://www.dsca.mil

– Kan, Shirley A., “Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990” Congressional Research Service Report RL30957, January 5, 2015

Note that the gaps in notifications were as follows:
October 25, 2005 – February 28, 2007
October 3, 2008 – January 29, 2010
September 21, 2011 – December 16, 2015
December 16, 2015 – June 29, 2017

Categories
Press Releases U.S. Government

The US-Taiwan Business Council Welcomes the Sale to Taiwan of 40 150mm M109A6 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzers for US$750 million

(Arlington, Virginia, August 4, 2021)

The US-Taiwan Business Council today welcomed the announcement of a possible Foreign Military Sale of 40 155mm M109A6 Paladin Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems and related equipment to Taiwan at an estimated cost of US$750 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certifications notifying Congress of the proposed Taiwan arms sale on August 4, 2021.

The published Congressional Notification (transmittal number 21-44) is for 40 155mm M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems; 20 M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles (FAASV); 1 Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS); 5 M88A2 Hercules vehicles; 5 M2 Chrysler Mount .50 caliber machine guns; and 1,698 multi-option, Precision Guidance Kits (PGK). Also included are M109A6/M992A2 overhaul, conversion and refurbishment services, along with additional equipment, testing, software and technical documentation, technical assistance, engineering, storage, and other related elements of technical, logistics, and program support.

Taiwan already operates older M109A2 and M109A5 variants of the Paladin, and holds M110A2 self-propelled howitzers and towed M114 howitzers in its existing inventory. The M109A6 provides enhanced armor and improved survivability over the older variants, and features a reduction in the time required for set up and fire.

Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said: “This notification for the M109A6 Paladin program is the first Taiwan arms sale under the Biden Administration. It serves as a timely reminder of the close national security partnership between the United States and Taiwan, particularly as the PRC is now violating the Taiwan AIDZ on a near daily basis. We expect to continue seeing normalized, timely, and regular arms sales from the U.S. that promote Taiwan’s military readiness. We also hope to see additional offers from the Biden Administration of new capabilities for Taiwan, to both help expand its current military posture and to continue improving its multilayered self-defense capacity.”

The US-Taiwan Business Council would also like to recognize the work of our dearly departed friend and former Board Member Greyson T. Bassett on this program.

Press Note: The words “package” and “packaging” often refer to slowing/stacking Taiwan arms sales notifications and sending them to Congress as a group, instead of individually forwarding them to Congress when they are ready. This was a common practice from 2007 to 2017, and resulted in large and irregular arms sales packages. The word “program” is preferred for items released in one Congressional notification.

Source: See the DSCA website at https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales

USTBC Comments on the Proposed Taiwan FMS of 40 M109A6 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzers
Categories
Notes U.S. Government

Taiwan Arms Sales Notified to Congress, 1990-2020

See Also: https://www.ustaiwandefense.com/taiwan-arms-sales-notified-to-congress-1990-2021/

Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2020 amount in billions (December 7, 2020)
Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2020 number of notifications (December 7, 2020)

Taiwan Arms Sales notified to Congress from 1990 to December 7, 2020. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) only, in US$ billion and by number of notifications.

Sources:

– FMS Data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency at http://www.dsca.mil

– Kan, Shirley A., “Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990” Congressional Research Service Report RL30957, January 5, 2015

 

Note that the gaps in notifications were as follows:
October 25, 2005 – February 28, 2007
October 3, 2008 – January 29, 2010
September 21, 2011 – December 16, 2015
December 16, 2015 – June 29, 2017

 

 

 

Categories
Press Releases U.S. Government

The US-Taiwan Business Council Comments on the Proposed Sale of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology (AT) Heavy Weight Torpedoes (HWT) to Taiwan

The US-Taiwan Business Council today welcomed the announcement of a possible Foreign Military Sale of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology (AT) Heavy Weight Torpedoes (HWT) and related equipment to Taiwan. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certifications notifying Congress of the proposed arms sale on May 20, 2020.

The published Congressional Notification (transmittal number 20-07) is for a total value of approximately US$180 million. The notification includes 18 MK-48 Mod6 ATHWTs, as well as spare parts, support and test equipment, shipping and shipping containers, operator manuals, technical documentation, training, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support.[1]

The US-Taiwan Business Council is encouraged by these Congressional notifications. Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said that “the return to regular arms sales has become a hallmark of the past several years. Taiwan’s commitment to growing its stock of munitions is important, and these MK-48 torpedoes will add to that stock. Taiwan’s balanced procurement priorities ensure that larger platforms – such as F-16s – are prioritized, while they are also tending to munitions stocks, life-cycle support, and services. It is the totality of all arms sales that helps Taiwan create a complete defense.”

Hammond-Chambers went on to say “The timing of the sale is also significant. Today, Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in to her second term as President of Taiwan. The United States, through this sale, is telegraphing that its support for Taiwan’s democracy isn’t just rhetorical – with positive statements on her inauguration coming from Secretary of State Pompeo. U.S. support is also material, as we maintain our commitment to providing Taiwan with weapons to deter the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China to Taiwan’s democratic way of life.”

[1] See the DSCA website at http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales

https://www.us-taiwan.org/resources/ustbc-comments-on-sale-of-18-mk-48-mod6-advanced-technology-heavy-weight-torpedoes-to-taiwan/

Categories
Notes U.S. Government

Taiwan Arms Sales Notified to Congress, 1990-2019

Chart: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2019
Chart: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2019
Chart: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2019 - # of Notifications
Chart: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2019 – # of Notifications

Updated Chart: Taiwan Arms Sales 1990-2019

Taiwan Arms Sales notified to Congress from 1990 to August, 2019. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) only, in US$ billion and by number of notifications.

August 28, 2019

Corrected total 2019 figures and updated the cited version of the Major U.S. Arms Sales report. With thanks to Shirley Kan. Also added a chart showing the number of FMS notifications by year.

Sources:

– FMS Data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency at http://www.dsca.mil

– Kan, Shirley A., “Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990” Congressional Research Service Report RL30957, January 5, 2015

Categories
News U.S. Government

2019 – Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China

The U.S. Department of Defense has released its annual report to Congress on the military power of China.

Reorganizing for Operations along China’s Periphery

China’s overall strategy toward Taiwan continues to incorporate elements of both persuasion and coercion to hinder the development of political attitudes in Taiwan favoring independence. Taiwan lost three additional diplomatic partners in 2018, and some international fora continued to deny the participation of representatives from Taiwan. Although China advocates for peaceful unification with Taiwan, China has never renounced the use of military force, and continues to develop and deploy advanced military capabilities needed for a potential military campaign.

Military Strategy and Doctrine

Taiwan persistently remains the PLA’s main “strategic direction,” one of the geographic areas the leadership identifies as having strategic importance, in authoritative military publications. Other strategic directions include the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and China’s borders with India and North Korea. PLA reforms have oriented each new theater command toward a specific strategic direction.

China’s Strategy and Capabilities Development in the Taiwan Strait

China appears prepared to defer the use of military force as long as it believes that unification with Taiwan over the long-term remains possible and the costs of conflict outweigh the benefits. China argues the credible threat of force is essential to maintain the conditions for political progress and prevent Taiwan from making moves toward independence.

For decades, China has refused to renounce the use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue. Simultaneously, China’s leaders proclaim their desire for peaceful unification under the principle of “one country, two systems,” as emphasized in President Xi Jinping’s addresses opening the CCP’s 19th Party Congress.

The circumstances under which the mainland has historically warned it would use force have evolved over time. These circumstances have included:

  • Formal declaration of Taiwan independence
  • Undefined moves toward Taiwan independence
  • Internal unrest in Taiwan
  • Taiwan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons
  • Indefinite delays in the resumption of
    cross-Strait dialogue on unification
  • Foreign intervention in Taiwan’s internal
    affairs and
  • Foreign forces stationed on Taiwan.

Key Takeaways

Key takeaways listed in the report include:

  • The Eastern Theater Command is oriented toward Taiwan and the East China Sea.
  • Relations between China and Taiwan remained cool through 2018.
  • Bowing to Chinese pressure, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, and El Salvador switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing.
  • The PLA continued Taiwan Strait contingency preparations.
  • Although China advocates for peaceful unification with Taiwan, China has never renounced the use of military force; the circumstances under which China has historically warned it would use force remain ambiguous and have evolved over time.
  • China has an array of options for a Taiwan campaign, ranging from an air and maritime blockade to a full-scale amphibious invasion to seize and occupy some or all of Taiwan or its offshore islands.
  • PLA services and support forces continue to improve training and acquire new capabilities for a Taiwan contingency, but there is no indication China is significantly expanding its landing ship force necessary for an amphibious assault on Taiwan.
  • Taiwan’s advantages continue to decline as China’s modernization efforts continue.
  • To counter China’s improving capabilities,Taiwan is developing new concepts and capabilities for asymmetric warfare.
Categories
U.S. Government

September 24, 2018 – U.S. Foreign Military Sales Order (FMSO) II to Taiwan

On September 24, 2018 the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) made the following statement:

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sales Order (FMSO) II to provide funds for blanket order requisitions to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) for an estimated cost of $330 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today. TECRO has requested a Foreign Military Sales Order (FMSO) II to provide funds for blanket order requisitions, under a Cooperative Logistics Supply Support Arrangement for stock replenishment supply of standard spare parts, and repair/replace of spare parts in support of the F-16, C-130, F-5, Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), all other aircraft systems and subsystems, and other related elements of logistics and program support. The total estimated program cost is $330 million.

This proposed sale is consistent with U.S. law and policy as expressed in Public Law 96-8.This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security and defensive capability of the recipient, which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. The proposed sale of spare and repair parts is required to maintain the recipient’s defensive and transport aerial fleet. The recipient has been operating these fleets since 1996 and will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and support into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. There are no principal contractors involved with this potential sale. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the permanent assignment of any U.S. Government or contractor representatives. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department’s Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

The original news release is available on the DSCA website:
http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/taipei-economic-and-cultural-representative-office-united-states-tecro-foreign