Taiwan plans to acquire stealth fighters and do more with a defense budget 15-20 times smaller than China's budget
by noreply@blogger.com (brian wang) from NextBigFuture.com on (#2GHRG)
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense plans to acquire new-generation stealth fighter jets with short or vertical takeoff and landing capabilities to deter Chinese military action against Taiwan, it said in its Quadrennial Defense Review released yesterday.
The military plans to procure the jets to improve its asymmetrical capabilities, as the cross-strait military balance has increasingly tilted in China's favor, the report said.
It also plans to develop indigenous submarines and upgrade surface vessels, improve air-defense missile and road-mobile missile systems, and establish a fleet of uncrewed aerial combat vehicles.
Any jets capable of short or vertical takeoff and landing could be the ministry's target, including, but not exclusively, the Lockheed Martin F-35, Deputy Minister of National Defense Lee Hsi-ming said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting in Taipei.
The ministry disputed reports that AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon systems and AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles are in an arms package for Taiwan to be approved by US President Donald Trump following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is scheduled for early next month in Florida.
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The military plans to procure the jets to improve its asymmetrical capabilities, as the cross-strait military balance has increasingly tilted in China's favor, the report said.
It also plans to develop indigenous submarines and upgrade surface vessels, improve air-defense missile and road-mobile missile systems, and establish a fleet of uncrewed aerial combat vehicles.
Any jets capable of short or vertical takeoff and landing could be the ministry's target, including, but not exclusively, the Lockheed Martin F-35, Deputy Minister of National Defense Lee Hsi-ming said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting in Taipei.
The ministry disputed reports that AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon systems and AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles are in an arms package for Taiwan to be approved by US President Donald Trump following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is scheduled for early next month in Florida.
Read more