The Ministry of National Defense is sending military personnel to the US next year to ensure that the delivery of the FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles it has procured would be on schedule.
The ministry initially planned to spend NT$17 billion (US$531.4 million) to procure 500 Stinger missiles from the US from 2017 to next year to bolster the military’s air defense capabilities. It later purchased an additional 1,985 missiles in the wake of growing military threats from China.
The additional procurement would increase the budget to about NT$69 billion.
Photo: Military News Agency via AP
The ministry’s budget proposal, which has been submitted to the Legislative Yuan, showed that the first batch of 500 Stingers should be delivered by the end of next year.
The additional 1,985 Stinger missiles should be delivered by 2031, the ministry said.
The ministry also said that the army would dispatch representatives to the US to control the progression and budgeting of its various contracts and to ensure that military equipment would be delivered on time and meet certain quality standards.
The representatives would function as liaison, the ministry said.
The army and the navy would dispatch representatives to the US to participate in a meeting on technical issues involved in the use of Stinger missiles, it said.
The portable air-defense system, with an effective shooting range of about 4,800m, would enable troops to have high mobility. Once procured, it would be used by the army, the marines, military police and troops stationed on Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島) and Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島).
Meanwhile, the army is to allocate NT$8.36 million to the Armaments Bureau from next year to 2028 to build new 150mm cannon barrels which would be added to M60A3 tanks, to procure 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks and to build new Clouded Leopard armored vehicles, the ministry’s budget proposal showed.
The nation has 460 M60A3 tanks that have been in active duty since the 1990s.
Aside from building new cannon barrels, the ministry in 2022 tasked the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to upgrade the tanks’ gun control, firing control and sighting systems. The project cost NT$444.01 million.
It has also budgeted about NT$7.2 billion to purchase “AVDS-1790-8CR” engines and replace old ones installed on M60A3 tanks. The procurement is to be completed by 2028.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) faces a jail sentence of up to 28.5 years after being indicted today on bribery charges and other forms of corruption, in connection with real estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018-2022. He was also charged for suspected involvement in irregularities in his party's campaign finances during the 2024 presidential election which he ran as a candidate in. Prosecutors are seeking a total sentence of 28.5 years for Ko, comprising 15 years for bribery, 5 years and 6 years for separate cases of embezzlement and 2.5 years for breach of
RSS