Eric Gomez
Eric Gomez
The backlog of US weapons that have been sold but not delivered to Taiwan saw several changes in December 2024, the net result being a $77 million reduction in the backlog, which now stands at $21.87 billion.
The third-largest arms sale in the backlog, a July 2019 sale of 108 Abrams tanks valued at $2 billion, began delivery in December. This partial delivery is visualized in Figures 1 and 2, but for reasons explained below I have elected not to reduce the backlog’s dollar value until full delivery has occurred.
Two New Sales, and TOW Delivery
The Biden administration notified Congress of three new Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases to Taiwan in December 2024. Two of these cases are included in the backlog. One case is not included because it procures equipment for Taiwanese fighter aircraft pilots who are conducting training in the United States.
The two new FMS cases included in the backlog are a $30 million sale of 16 MK 75 naval gun mounts and a $265 million sale of equipment to modernize various command, control, communication, and computer—also known as C4—systems. Congressional notification occurred on December 20, 2024, for both cases.
Similar to aircraft reconnaissance equipment, the database codes the naval gun mount as a traditional capability because it is a sub-component of another traditional capability. While most FMS cases entail the production of new equipment, the notification announcement mentions that the gun mounts will come from existing US stock. This should make for much faster delivery since the mounts will not need to be made from scratch. This is the first traditional capability sold to Taiwan by the Biden administration since an August 2023 sale of F‑16 infrared targeting pods.
C4 modernization is difficult to code because these capabilities support a wide variety of other equipment. » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/taiwan-arms-backlog-december-2024-update-abrams-delivery-begins