The U.S. State Department agreed to sell 40 units of 155mm M109A6 Paladin howitzers valued approximately $750 million to Taiwan on Wednesday.
Taipei’s foreign ministry said it was the first major arms sale announced since President Joe Biden took office in January and would help the island “maintain a rock-solid self-defence and regional peace and stability.”
TECRO has requested to buy 40 155mm M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems; 20 M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles (FAASV); one Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS); 5 M88A2 Hercules vehicles; 5 M2 Chrysler Mount .50 caliber machine guns; and 1,698 multi-option, Precision Guidance Kits (PGK), Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a release today.
The prime contractor for the Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems will be BAE Systems, Anniston, AL, and Elgin, OK; M992A2 FAASV, Anniston Army Depot (ANAD), Bynum, AL; and M88A2 recovery vehicles, BAE, York, PA. The purchaser has requested offsets. At this time, agreements are undetermined and will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and contractor.