A Quiet Month

Authors: Joe O’Connor & TSM Staff

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July 2026 was exceedingly quiet on the backlog front, with little to no updates on the status of delayed cases. Reports emerged that Taiwan’s F-16 Block 70s would not be delivered with electronic warfare systems due to delays, and a Field Information Communications System was spotted during an ROCA exercise, confirming prior reporting of its delivery. In July, Congress received no new Foreign Military Sales (FMS) notifications for Taiwan, and no existing sales were fully delivered. The total value of FMS cases notified to Congress but not yet delivered to Taiwan is still $29.72 billion.

Figure 1 shows how the backlog is divided among asymmetric weapons, traditional weapons, and munitions. Arms sales that are only partly delivered are marked in yellow-orange. Table 1 lists all arms sales in the backlog with the latest status updates. Partially delivered sales are shown in italics, while newly announced and fully delivered sales are marked with bold and underlining. 

FICS Makes Appearance at June Exercise

On June 22, a Field Information Communications System (FICS)-installed Humvee was sighted in a Taiwanese Army 269th Brigade convoy during an “immediate combat readiness exercise” in Taoyuan. This marks the first documented public image of FICS in months and corroborates earlier reporting from 2026, which stated that the Army had “newly received/fielded” some of the systems, and that full delivery was expected to be completed by 2027.

Eagle-eyed backlog followers will recall that the FICS has been designated as partially delivered since February 2026, when we expanded the “partially delivered” designation to include all sales, not just those above $1 billion, as was the prior policy. As a result, it is unclear exactly when the FICS system began deliveries. The sale itself, worth $280 million, was notified to Congress in December 2020, and an MND budget unfreezing report from May 2025 indicated that testing had been completed and the first batch of equipment would arrive in the fourth quarter of 2025. TSM has not been able to independently verify the expected delivery date, but due to the presence of FICS in Taiwan, we will continue to mark that sale as partially delivered.

MK-48 Torpedoes Remain Delayed, MND Searching for Alternatives

As previously reported, the delivery timelines for Taiwan’s two tranches of MK 48 heavyweight torpedoes have slipped into 2027-28, ending in 2030, but reporting in July indicated that the MND was searching for alternatives to procure torpedoes sooner, including “borrowing active inventory torpedoes from the U.S. military” as an option. A military source also told Liberty Times that, after reviewing the international market, maintaining delayed procurement timelines for U.S. MK 48s remains more beneficial, as Taiwan’s indigenous Hai Kun submarine, still in testing, has systems specifically designed to meet MK 48 standards, not European or Japanese torpedo variants.

Contract Awards

Two fairly minor but important contracts involving backlogged cases were awarded in July. On July 15, the Army awarded a $439 million undefinitized contract action for procurement of Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles for Taiwan, specifically for use by HIMARS systems. Work will be performed by Lockheed Martin and completed by February 2031.

On July 24, the Air Force awarded a $332 million contract to Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems for spare and repair parts for the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, a helmet-mounted heads-up display used on F-15, F-16, and F-18 fighter jets. These are likely for Taiwan’s existing F-16 fleet and expanded Block 70 fleet, and work is expected to be completed by July 2032.