Taiwan’s key arms procurements from the US will be delayed due to insufficient finds in the Ministry of National Defence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang has said.
Lin Yu-fang, who also sits on the legislature’s foreign and national defence committee, said the delays were caused by a military budget shortage and the nation’s financial difficulties.
Taiwan’s procurement of six PAC-3 missile-launching systems would be delayed from 2014 to 2017, while the procurement of 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters would be delayed from 2016 to 2019.
The sale of four launchers was authorised in 2008, and Taiwan signed a $6.4bn arms package that included the helicopters and two other launchers in January 2010, according to the Taipei Times.
The Taiwan ministry had reserved $10.74bn in arms procurements for 2011-2014, of which, 61% would be for arms purchases from the US, while the share of domestic procurement will be maintained between 40%-50%.
