Author: Joe O’Connor, Shikhar Chaturvedi, Danielle Kremer, and Wyeth Lindberg
This week: the MND received a payment extension for the sale of HIMARS, a U.S. congressional delegation visited Taiwan to support ongoing budget negotiations, the ROCN signed a major upgrade contract with a French firm, and two Taiwan-related defense bills were introduced in the U.S. Senate, alongside weekly awards and solicitations.
MND Seeks, Receives Payment Extension for HIMARS
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said this week that the United States has agreed to defer the first payment deadline for 82 HIMARS launchers, giving Taipei temporary relief as the Legislative Yuan continues to debate the Lai administration’s NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget. According to Defense Minister Wellington Koo and MND officials, the HIMARS payment can now be pushed to around May, when Washington expects to complete contract negotiations with the supplier (Lockheed Martin), rather than the original March 30 deadline. Taiwan had already secured legislative authorization on March 13 to sign Letters of Offer and Acceptance for four U.S. arms sales packages worth roughly US$9 billion, but still lacked appropriated funds for the required down payments.
The HIMARS case nevertheless underscores how legislative delays are now affecting backlog management. Liberty Times reported on March 26 that MND officials had warned missing the HIMARS payment window could force Taiwan to wait until the end of the year for another contracting opportunity, and CNA now reports that MND is still trying to secure similar payment extensions for three additional systems: TOW missiles, Javelins, and M109A7 self-propelled howitzers. Together, the four initial payments total about US$79 million. For now, Taiwan has avoided a near-term disruption on HIMARS, but the episode shows how domestic budget gridlock can still complicate contracting timelines and add friction to efforts of moving delayed U.S. arms cases through the pipeline.
U.S. Senate Delegation Visits Taiwan, Meets Lai, LY
On Monday and Tuesday, a delegation of four U.S. Senators, led by Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), visited Taiwan on one leg of a trip around the Indo-Pacific. Shaheen, accompanied by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Curtis (R-UT), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), met with President Lai Ching-te and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung, reaffirming support for Taiwan’s defense and relations with the U.S. Before arriving, Sen. Curtis told the Financial Times that the visit’s timing was linked to efforts in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan to pass a special defense budget, which has largely stalled in negotiations.
On Monday, the delegation also visited the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), Taiwan’s state-owned indigenous defense manufacturer, and viewed results of live-fire testing of the Mighty Hornet IV, a new attack drone jointly produced by NCSIST and US company Kratos that is a variant of the MQM-178 Firejet target drone.
On Tuesday, the delegation met with a bipartisan group of DPP and KMT Legislative Yuan members in a closed-door evening session. Per legislators Niu Hsu-ting (KMT) and Chen Kuan-ting (DPP), the delegations discussed ongoing arms procurement between the United States and Taiwan, as well as the current legislative process for the special defense budgets and how to build consensus among all parties. After this, the delegation departed Taipei, enroute to Japan.
ROCN Signs NT$1.81 Billion Contract for Naval Upgrades
On Tuesday, the Republic of China Navy (ROCN) signed a deal with Defense Conseil International (DCI) worth NT$1.81 billion (US$56.73 million) for technical support services as it begins upgrading its fleet of six Kang Ding-class frigates. DCI is France’s state-owned operator for the exporting of military assistance to international partners, under the Ministry for the Armed Forces. Since the Kang Ding-class frigates are export models of France’s own La Fayette-class frigates, their structural designs and parameters are protected by French patents.
Modifications include the installation of BAE Systems’ Type 997 Artisan radar and Safran S.A.’s PASEO NS electro-optical fire control system, as well as installation of the indigenously produced Hua Yang vertical launch system (VLS), equipped with 32 TC-2N (Tien Chien II or Sky Sword II) air-to-air missiles, to replace older U.S. naval Sea Chaparral surface-to-air missiles. With the first upgraded ship being completed in February of this year, the contract will run for 5 years and 6 months and is expected to be completed by the end of 2031. This contract will ensure effective integration of Taiwan’s domestically developed weapons with foreign-built platforms, avoiding any impact on ships’ operational or stealth performance.
U.S. Senate Introduces Two New Bills on Taiwan
On Thursday, Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) introduced the First Island Chain Deterrence Act, a measure requiring the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to issue a report to Congress on the status of major arms sales and if there are any delays affecting Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The same report would assess the impacts of such delays, their effects on readiness in the region, and would be due within 18 months of the bill becoming law.
Today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and John Curtis (R-UT), introduced the Blue Skies for Taiwan Act, which aims to support Taiwan’s indigenous drone production industry. The measure specifically would establish a “Blue UAS Working Group,” which would assess Taiwanese industry and begin adding Taiwanese systems to the DOD’s secure “Blue UAS” program, ensuring capabilities and components are “PRC-independent.” The bill, if passed, also directs the Pentagon and State Department to begin expedited certification processes for Taiwanese drone manufacturers.
Weekly Awards/Solicitations
On Thursday, the Naval Command made a repeat solicitation of bids for transport trucks, worth NT$1.35 billion (US$42.13 million).
On Friday, the Military Medical Bureau solicited bids for the construction of the Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Center, worth NT$216.39 million (US$6.77 million).
On Tuesday, the Naval Command awarded Defense Conseil International a NT$1.81 billion (US$56.73 million) contract for naval technical support services. DCI is France’s Ministry for the Armed Forces operator for the exporting of military assistance to international partners. The contract is to be fulfilled throughout the southern region of Taiwan.
On Wednesday, the Information and Communications Command made a repeat solicitation of bids for the licensing of cloud information services, worth NT$36.03 billion (US$1.13 billion).
Also on Wednesday, the Armaments Bureau’s Production and Manufacturing Center, made a repeat solicitation of bids for night-vision detection equipment, worth NT$38.89 million (US$1.22 million).