The United States government has authorized the possible sale of a logistics support package for the Taiwan Army’s AH-1W attack helicopters. The operation is part of a series of authorizations issued by the U.S. Department of State in favor of the Taiwanese government and notified to the U.S. Congress, under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, with an estimated value of US$ 96 million.
At present, the Taiwan Army’s rotary-wing attack aviation relies primarily on U.S.-made AH-1W attack helicopters. While the introduction of the AH-64 Apache represented the adoption of a more modern platform with greater capabilities, the current number of SuperCobra helicopters allows them to complement one another in attack, fire support, and armed reconnaissance roles.
Nevertheless, the AH-1W fleet—whose original deliveries of 42 aircraft took place between 1993 and 1997, later supplemented by an additional batch of 21 helicopters—requires the corresponding logistics support packages from the United States.
This is reflected in the recent authorization issued by the Department of State, valued at US$ 96 million, which, according to details released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on December 17, includes spare parts, logistics and maintenance services, and other items.
The Department of State stated: “The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient’s fleet of AH-1W helicopters. The recipient will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.”
Finally, despite the relatively modest amount by comparison, it should be noted that this support package for the Taiwan Army’s AH-1W helicopters is part of a broader series of authorizations valued at several billion dollars. These include the possible sale of new M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, HIMARS rocket artillery systems along with ATACMS ballistic missiles, and thousands of loitering munitions from Anduril’s ALTIUS family.
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