Taiwan Eyes NASAMS Air Defense System after 'Success' in Ukraine

Taiwan has confirmed interest in the U.S.-made NASAMS air defense system after observing its performance in the Ukraine War.

Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Tuesday that the island is considering NASAMS purchase. "We have seen from the Russia-Ukraine war that these weapons definitely have good performance,” he said.

He said there is still no formal notification confirming the weapons purchase, and more work needs to be done to secure the deal.

Jointly developed by the U.S. and Norway, National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) is a ground-based short to medium range air defense system that defends against drone, missile, and aircraft attacks. The U.S. claims they have had a 100% success rate in intercepting Russian missiles in Ukraine.

Ukrainian armed forces have two batteries of NASAMS air defense systems presently. Six more systems were ordered by the United States and one by Canada as part of military aid to Ukraine. Norway and Lithuania have also announced plans to transfer these missile systems to Kyiv.