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The US State Department has approved the US$1.16 billion (AU$1.71 billion) foreign military sale to Taiwan of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).
Formally approved by the State Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the proposed sale will see the acquisition of three NASAMS medium-range air defence solutions by Taipei as part of the island nation’s increased investment in integrated air defence capabilities.
The sale includes three AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar systems, 123 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles-Extended Range (AMRAAM-ER), along with two AMRAAM-C8 guidance sections and four Multifunctional Information Distribution Systems.
This sale also includes fire distribution centres, canister launcher systems and electro-optical/infrared systems, AN/PSN-13 defence advanced global positioning system receivers with selective availability anti-spoofing module, and AN/PYQ-10 simple key loaders to support the operation of the NASAMS capability.
DSCA’s announcement stated, “The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by contributing to the recipient’s abilities to defend its airspace, provide regional security, and increase interoperability with the United States through its NASAMS program. The recipient will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
Taiwan’s NASAMS capability will be supported by Raytheon and its Andover facility in Massachusetts and will be supported by “the assignment of approximately 26 US government and 34 contractor representatives to travel to the recipient for an extended period for equipment de-processing and fielding, system checkout, training, and technical and logistics support”.
Australia selected the Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace-designed NASAMS in 2017 to be built in Australia by Raytheon Australia in partnership with Kongsberg Defence Australia.
The AU$2.5 billion contract will bring a transformational change to the Army’s existing force protection capability, including a progression from man-portable ground-based air defence capability to a fully networked and distributed system.
Australia’s NASAMS capability will also include CEA tactical and towed CEA operational (CEAOPS) AESA radars, high-mobility launchers and radar carried on Hawkei protected mobility vehicles, along with Raytheon’s AN/AAS-52 Multi-Spectral Targeting System.
