Posted on 04/18/2023 9:31:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Taiwan will buy as many as 400 U.S. land-launched Harpoon missiles in the face of rising threat from China, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a trade group's leader and people familiar with the issue. A contract with Boeing that the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command issued on Taiwan's behalf marks the first time the island will get the mobile, land-launched version, the report said citing Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council. It previously purchased the ship-launched version.
This month, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California and stressed the need to accelerate arms deliveries to Taiwan in the face of rising threats from China.
After the meeting, Mike Gallagher, Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said he would like to look for ways to get Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Taiwan ahead of those scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia.
In 2020, Taiwan said that it planned to buy land-based Boeing-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles as part of its military modernization efforts.
(Excerpt) Read more at ndtv.com ...
You know Biden is going to slow-walk the delivery of these missiles - unlike the expedited shipments to Ukraine.
RE: unlike the expedited shipments to Ukraine.
If you listened to their analyses, Many retired generals like Wesley Clark, Ben Hodges and Jack Keane are complaining that the needed weapons for Ukraine to repel the Russians are coming in TOO SLOW.
They make their own missiles -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsiung_Feng_II
I think the problem is inability to scale up production.
US Harpoons are cheaper and the US makes them faster.
Harpoons are not going to Ukraine (well, just a few land based ones from Norway).
Harpoons are from different factories than, say, Javelins.
The author of The Bully of Asia said on TV the US will run out of some categories of missiles after one week of warfare defending Taiwan.
Go ahead Taiwan, if you want to end up like another US friend, Ukraine.
I was going to say I hope it is 400 more.
Taiwan has not received the military hardware they’ve paid for. Why would they continue?
I wonder what the delivery date is? If it is not very soon then it will not help as a deterrent to invasion.
I dont think Harpoons are made anymore. Subsonic and limited warhead make them sub optimal.
It only takes one getting through a chicom carrier's defenses to make it have a bad day.
Land based Harpoons are good for 80 NM or so. Not much of a stand off. Will 50 year old Harpoon sustainer motors fire off correctly?
400 missiles, even subsonic ones, could saturate a naval task force’s air defenses. Harpoon’s limited range is less of an issue here. I believe the Chinese invasion force would only be covering 100 miles total.
Sitting ducks in the ocean. My concern would be the low military commitment it’s young men are required to serve. They’re no Israel.
I hope they wait until delivery to write the check.
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