Taiwan scrambles to sign US arms deals before deadline amid defence budget gridlock

Taiwan’s defence ministry has received a US letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) for 82 Himars rocket launchers, according to officials, who said the deal must be signed by March 26 as other pending arms contracts near expiry. Speaking before a legislative session on Tuesday, Wellington Koo Li-hsiung, the island’s defence minister, said the Himars, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, agreement was one of five US arms procurement deals awaiting legislative authorisation. Koo noted that the LOAs for M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, Tow-2B anti-tank missiles and Javelin missiles would expire on Sunday, while the Himars contract must be signed by March 26. He said Taiwan had already received four of the five LOAs. The fifth document was for an anti-armour unmanned aerial system supplied by US drone maker Altius. The agreements are tied to the government’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special budget aimed at strengthening Taiwan’s defence resilience and asymmetric warfare capabilities. The proposal remains stalled in the opposition-controlled legislature, delaying authorisation for the defence ministry to sign the contracts. Because of the urgency, Koo urged lawmakers to allow the ministry to sign the agreements with Washington once the special defence bill was approved, even if the corresponding budget had not yet been fully allocated. “We hope all five items can be authorised so that we can sign them,” Koo said. “Especially the Himars programme – if the timeline can start earlier, the systems can be obtained sooner. Further delays could have related impacts,” he added. With the deadlines approaching, lawmakers have begun debating whether to grant provisional authorisation allowing the defence ministry to sign the US arms deals before the special budget formally clears the legislature. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Lin Chu-yin warned that delays in approving the special defence budget could send the wrong signal to Washington about Taiwan’s commitment to its own defence. She said the March 15 deadline for three of the arms deals meant time was running out, and Taiwan could not afford to risk losing the contracts. Under mounting US pressure, the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which has aligned itself with the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), has proposed granting approval for the defence ministry to sign the LOAs covering the M109A7 howitzers, Tow missiles and Javelin missiles before their Sunday deadline. On Friday, the TPP caucus sent the motion directly to the second reading stage, pending cross-party negotiations scheduled for Thursday. The five procurement items are part of a US$11 billion arms package approved by Washington in December. The broader deal also includes military software systems, helicopter spare parts and refurbishment kits for Harpoon missiles, which fall under regular defence spending rather than the special budget. Taiwan has already ordered 29 Himars launch systems under earlier phases, along with 84 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and hundreds of precision-guided rockets. Deliveries are expected to be completed this year. The newly proposed purchase would add 82 more launchers, 420 long-range ATACMS tactical missiles and more than 1,200 precision-guided rockets in a deal estimated to be worth about US$4.05 billion. If approved and delivered, Taiwan’s Himars inventory would reach 111 launch systems, creating one of the largest concentrations of the platform outside the United States. Military analysts said the programme’s most strategically significant element was the ATACMS missile, which has a range of about 300km (186 miles) and could allow Taiwan to strike military targets across the Taiwan Strait. Defence officials said the combined Himars deals would provide the armed forces with more than 500 tactical missiles capable of cross-strait strikes, along with over 2,000 precision rockets. The system’s mobility is also a key advantage. Himars launchers can fire and relocate within about a minute, making them difficult to detect and target, according to military analysts. Shu Hsiao-huang, a researcher at the government-funded Institute for National Defence and Security Research, said such capabilities fitted Taiwan’s broader asymmetric warfare strategy, which sought to offset Beijing’s numerical advantage with highly mobile precision weapons. “The Himars is a highly mobile platform capable of engaging targets with precision fire at a 300km range, which could reach coastal areas in China,” Shu said. Opposition lawmakers have blocked the NT$1.25 trillion special budget bill since it was proposed late last year. They only agreed to send it for procedural review on Friday – accompanied by a competing NT$400 billion package from the TPP and a NT$380 billion version from the KMT – amid mounting pressure from Washington for Taiwan to demonstrate stronger commitment to its defence. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. But Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons to defend itself.

Taiwan scrambles to sign US arms deals before deadline amid defence budget gridlock

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Taipei receives formal US offer for 82 Himars while agreements for howitzers and missiles also await sign-off by island’s legislature

Taipei receives formal US offer for 82 Himars while agreements for howitzers and missiles also await sign-off by island’s legislature