U.S. Okays $100M Support Deal for Taiwan’s Patriot Missiles

The U.S. State Department has approved a $100 million sale of equipment and services to Taiwan to boost its Patriot missile defense systems.

In a statement today, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) requested to buy equipment and services to support participation in the Patriot International Engineering Services Program (IESP) and Field Surveillance Program (FSP) for five years, including engineering services support, designed to sustain, maintain, and improve the Patriot Air Defense System within the performance envelope described in the system specification through the investigation and resolution of identified problems; missile field surveillance support for legacy (Guidance Enhanced Missile (GEM)) and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, designed to ensure the reliability and performance of the Patriot missile through storage and aging programs, surveillance firing programs, and configuration management; legacy and PAC-3 missile stockpile reliability testing, to provide quantitative reliability assessments of the deployed missile round; U.S. Government and contractor technical and logistics support, and other related elements of program support.

Participation in the shared IESP and FSP for the life of the Patriot system is a requirement of the U.S. Government.

This proposed sale is consistent with U.S. law and policy as expressed in Public Law 96-8 or the Taiwan Relations Act, the DSCA added. Its objective is to ensure the island nation’s security by selling advanced weapons and technology, support the island nation’s membership in international organizations and promote its democracy in China and abroad. The Six Assurances, made by then-President Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, pledge not to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan and not to consult with China on those arms sales.