Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense has signed a formal agreement with the US for the purchase of nearly 1,000 attack drones.
The letter of offer and acceptance for the deal was signed “unannounced” in late September, Bloomberg revealed, citing sources.
Subsequent contracts specifying “quantities, dollar values, and delivery dates” could be signed “soon,” according to the outlet.
The US State Department approved the sale of 291 ALTIUS 600M-V aerial systems and 720 Switchblade 300 loitering munitions in June, with an estimated total value of $360 million.
The ALTIUS sale amounts to approximately $300 million, while the Switchblades are projected to cost $60.2 million, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The transactions demonstrate “that both Taiwan and the US are learning important lessons from the combat in Ukraine, and turning that knowledge into future procurement,” Bloomberg quoted a senior director with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies Rear Admiral (Ret) Mark Montgomery as saying.
Montgomery has traveled to Taiwan to assess its defense needs, according to the outlet.
Unmanned Aerial Assassins
The expendable aerial weapons are capable of inflicting significant damage on enemy personnel and armor at a fraction of the cost of traditional missiles and manned platforms like fighter jets.
Both types of loitering munitions have been deployed in the Ukraine war and can provide an additional offensive capability to Taiwanese forces against the Chinese military in any future conflict across the Taiwan Strait.
The ALTIUS 600M-V aerial system accommodates multiple seeker and warhead options, boasting a flight endurance of up to four hours.
The Switchblade 300 is a precision-guided weapon featuring a high-resolution electro-optical/infrared camera suite and a touchscreen fire control unit, enabling operators to execute missions with ease.
It has a flight endurance of 15 minutes and can be deployed in under 2 minutes via tube launch from land, sea, or mobile platforms.