US State Department Approves Costly Missile Arms Sales to Taiwan
The US State Department approved on Wednesday the sale of roughly $1 billion in long-range cruise missiles and $436 million in rocket artillery vehicles to Taiwan, just the latest incident of Washington supplying advanced weaponry to a government China considers to be a province in rebellion.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon's office that oversees US military assistance to other nations, announced on Wednesday the State Department had approved sale of $1.008 billion worth of AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) and related equipment to the Republic of China, the official name of the government in Taipei, Taiwan.
According to the announcement, the Taiwanese envoy to Washington requested 135 SLAM-ER cruise missiles as well as four telemetry missiles for test-firing and 12 Captive Air Training Missiles, used to simulate the missile onboard aircraft in training.
The SLAM-ER is a version of the Harpoon anti-ship missiles that has been modified to strike land targets and has an extended range of 170 miles - long enough to reach across the Taiwan Strait and strike the Chinese mainland.
In a separate announcement, the DSCA revealed the State Department had approved sale of 11 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) M142 launchers and related equipment to Taiwan for $436 million. The deal includes 64 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) for the vehicles to fire and 54 training pods.
The deal is just the latest sale in advanced weapons by Washington to Taipei. Since US President Donald Trump took office four years ago, the US has supplied Taiwan with $15 billion in weapons. In August, the US finalized the largest single deal, an $8 billion sale of 66 F-16V "Viper" advanced fighter jets, and floated selling Taipei MQ-9B Reaper drones as well. It has previously supplied Taipei with torpedoes, air defense systems, and fighter aircraft.
https://sputniknews.com/asia/202010211080841904-us-state-department-approves-costly-missile-arms-sales-to-taiwan/