AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (AGM-158 JASSM) (Public Domain)
Taiwan is seeking to acquire long-range air-launched cruise missiles from the United States to counter increasingly rampant Chinese Communist Party military activity in the region, a defense official said Monday (April 19).
Reuters reported that during Monday’s legislative session, the head of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense’s strategic planning department, Lee Shih-chang, revealed when asked about issues related to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan that this time Taiwan hopes to purchase Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158 from the U.S. side.
AGM-158 JASSM is an acronym for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Its range varies by model and can cover a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). The weapon can be fixed for use on Taiwan’s F-16s fighter aircraft.
“We are still asking for quotes from the U.S. side,” Lee said, adding that “the communication channels are very smooth and normal.”
He did not elaborate further.
Lockheed Martin said the missile is designed to destroy expensive, well-defended fixed or moveable targets. And it is fired far enough away so that warplanes can be kept away from enemy air defense systems.
Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, noted in a March 4 video conversation with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, at its headquarters in Hawaii that the recent more frequent presence of Chinese aircraft and ships near Taiwan suggests that the Communist Party is increasingly confident that it can successfully invade Taiwan. . He suggested that the United States encourage Taiwan to invest more in its self-defense capabilities and to “sustain arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s military forces have traditionally focused on defending the island from the Chinese Communist Party. Currently, Taiwan’s armed forces are being modernized to provide a more effective deterrent, including the ability to conduct long-range counterattacks in the event of cross-strait conflict.
Taiwan has been developing its own long-range missiles for wartime needs. However, the government also expects the United States to reach out and provide it with more advanced weaponry.
On March 25, Leng Jinxu, vice president of Taiwan’s Academy of Chinese Sciences, revealed that the ROC has now successfully designed and manufactured a land-based missile with long-range strike warfare capabilities, and three more long-range strike missiles are under development.
On the same day at the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-ching was invited by the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee to give a special report. During the presentation, Chiu said that the development of long-range strike capabilities is a priority for Taiwan’s national defense and that he “expects to achieve long range, precision and mobility. The defense minister noted that Taiwan’s National Institute of Sun Yat-sen Science has never stopped this research and development.
The United States is Taiwan’s primary offshore weapons supplier. The Pentagon has been hoping to counter the threat of Chinese communist force by creating a “Fortress Taiwan.
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