The government of the United States authorized yesterday the potential sale of HIMARS systems and hundreds of ATACMS ballistic missiles, which would be intended to equip the Taiwanese Army, which relies heavily on equipment supplied by Washington to consolidate its defense. According to officially published information, this would be an operation requiring an investment of more than 4 billion dollars from Taipei’s coffers, and which has already been notified by the U.S. Department of State to Congress.
Going deeper into the specifics of the operation, it can be mentioned that it includes a total of 82 M142 HIMARS systems, complemented by a batch of 420 ATACMS missiles and 752 GMLRS-U guided rockets to equip them. Added to the extensive list of elements that make up the sale are 39 multipurpose wheeled vehicles of the HMMWV type, 45 IFATDS field artillery tactical data systems, and various technical support services to ensure their proper integration into Taiwanese inventories. Of lesser relevance, the shipment of machine guns of various types and calibers, communications systems, trailers, and other types of equipment is also mentioned.
Justifying the operation, the official statement affirms that it falls within the framework of Public Law 96-8, while also stating that it “(…) benefits U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s ongoing efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a robust defensive capability. The proposed sale will help improve the recipient’s security and help maintain political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s ability to meet current and future threats by strengthening the defensive capabilities of its forces. The recipient will have no difficulty integrating these articles and services into its armed forces.”
Unlike other statements of this type, it has not yet been specified which contractors will be responsible for carrying out the operation if it is confirmed, indicating only that they will be selected through a bidding process. In addition, it was detailed that no offset agreement with the Taiwanese government is planned, but that the deployment of three U.S. representatives for a period of three years and another two representatives for one year is planned, in order to provide technical advisory services and reviews on the progress of the program.
It is worth recalling at this point that Taiwan has been familiarizing itself with the HIMARS platform for months, including, among other things, the conduct of live-fire tests during the month of May of the current year; which took place at the Jiupeng Test Center and marked the system’s operational debut in the country amid heightened tensions with China. In particular, this first batch of systems used in those tests was part of an order for a total of 29 units, within the framework of the capability modernization program known as Project Honglei, in exchange for an investment of 1.01 billion dollars.
*Images used for illustrative purposes.
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