Black Hawk helicopter (data photos of this newspaper) Photo source: Taiwan's "China Times News Network"
China Economic Net reported on April 12: According to Taiwan's "China Times News Network", Trump and the Biden administration's arms sales to Taiwan are more intensive than before, with the amount hitting new highs. The US Congress has repeatedly proposed to require the executive department to strengthen arms sales to Taiwan. What is the focus of the new wave of arms sales to Taiwan in the United States? There are many rumors in the arms circle. The Taiwan defense department made it clear yesterday that there are "four nos" about US military purchases, including not buying a second long-range early warning radar, not buying an Apache helicopter, not buying a US military's warship , and not buying an Black Hawk helicopter .
The legislative body of Taiwan held a joint meeting yesterday to review the draft amendment to the "Regulations on Obstructing Military Service", but the focus of the public opinion representatives' inquiries is still on the US military purchase case. Although the responses of the officials from the Taiwan defense department attended the meeting were short, they were all very clear. I hope the outside world will not spread rumors anymore.
Since Mullen, former US Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Taiwan in early March, there have been rumors that the United States hopes to build a second long-range early warning radar in Taiwan. The Kuomintang’s public opinion representative Liao Wanru questioned and verified this yesterday. Bai Honghui, deputy director of the Taiwan Defense Department, made it clear that there were two plans in the past, but Taiwan does not have this demand now. The Taiwan military will not build a second long-range early warning radar, and is sure to not buy it.
Democratic Progressive Party’s public opinion representative Tsai Shiying’s questioning, the Taiwan Air Force plans to convert the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter into a new night search and rescue equipment. What is the progress? Air Force Chief of Staff Huang Zhiwei admitted that the price of both construction reform or procurement of new aircraft was too high, so both cases were abandoned.
Huang Zhiwei said that the Taiwan Air Force originally planned to modify the existing five UH-60M aircraft to make them night search capabilities, and the budget was about NT$41.9 billion, but the US quotation was 4.3 billion yuan and the purchase of new aircraft reached 18 billion yuan. Therefore, the entire case of Air Force has been cancelled and reported to the Taiwan Defense Department for review. EC225 and S-70C will carry out night search and rescue missions in the future.
In addition, according to the budget thawing project report sent by the Taiwan defense department to the legislature in Taiwan, it mentioned: "In the future, in cooperation with the new equipment (AH-64E Apachi helicopter) to obtain the installation schedule, and a new storage and shed factory will be built to meet the actual needs." This report by the Taiwan Army was interpreted by the outside world as a new Apachi helicopter will be purchased.
However, Lieutenant General Zhang Yuanxun, Chief of Staff of the Taiwan Army, pointed out in response to Tsai Shiying's inquiry that there is no such case at present. Bai Honghui emphasized that the defense department did not want to buy new helicopters, but just built a shed factory, because Taichung News Agency's Apachi was training in Qingquangang. In the past, they borrowed Qingquangang's shed factory, but now they wanted to build their own shed factory, and they didn't want to buy Apachi.
Korean public opinion representative Chen Yixin questioned that the United States has more than 20 ships such as Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and other ships will be decommissioned this year. Is there any relevant ship purchase plan in Taiwan? Li Shiqiang, Director of Battle Regulations of the Defense Department of
, said that the US decommissioning these ships means that the maintenance costs cannot be maintained by the US military. Although the defense department has made an assessment, this option has not been included at present. In other words, the military will not purchase decommissioned ships, including coastal combat ships, which have been recently retired by the US.
Regarding the progress of the new MH-60R anti-submarine helicopter that the Taiwan Navy wants to purchase from the United States, Navy Chief of Staff Jiang Zhengguo pointed out yesterday that the budget has been listed in this year's confidential budget, and the letter of demand for issuance of has been submitted to the defense department for review and will be proposed in accordance with the planning schedule.
Bai Honghui said that Taiwan’s defense department is reviewing it. If it cannot be implemented, it must report to Taiwan’s legislative body; as for the details of the requirements letter of issuance, this is a confidential budget and can only be explained in a confidential meeting and cannot be answered publicly.
