• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

U.S. government notifies Congress on arms sale to Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

2011/09/21 23:36:33

By Elaine Hou

Washington, Sept. 21 (CNA) The United States government formally notified Congress Wednesday of its intent to sell Taiwan military equipment and services worth an estimated US$5.85 billion, but the package does not include new F-16C/D fighters that Taiwan wanted to modernize its arsenal.

The sale package includes upgrades of Taiwan's existing fleet of F-16 A/B jet fighters and Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) system, according to a statement released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Taiwan has urged the U.S., its biggest security ally, to sell it 66 F-16C/D jets since 2006 to maintain its self-defense capabilities in the face of China's aggressive military buildup in recent years.

In 2009, Taiwan also made a formal request for helping upgrade its F-16A/B fleet.