Tagged: #budget

12 stories found

A Taiwan army M1A2T Abrams tank in camouflage paint with crew members standing on the turret

Taiwan disciplines 7 army officers over unreported NT$4.8bn rise in M1A2T tank costs

An internal probe found the Army Command signed a revised US offer letter for M1A2T tanks without the legislature's consent; a former army chief of staff is among those punished.

TaiwanDefence · 1h ago · 3 min read

Bottom view of a Republic of China Air Force F-16 fighter flying over Hualien

Cross-Strait

Taiwan defence minister says higher spending builds deterrence after China calls threat talk exaggerated

Wellington Koo told lawmakers on 14 October 2026 that bigger defence budgets create effective deterrence, rejecting Beijing claims that Taipei is exaggerating the China threat and crowding out social spending.

TaiwanDefence · 6h ago · 2 min read

A dark grey South Korean diesel-electric submarine sails into harbour with crew standing on its sail.

Indo-Pacific

South Korea's arms agency seeks 13.8% more for 2027 to speed nuclear-powered submarines

South Korea's military procurement agency wants 22.7 trillion won next year to push nuclear submarines, missile defence and attack drones against North Korea.

TaiwanDefence · 1d ago · 3 min read

A soldier sitting in tall grass on a hillside fires a shoulder-launched Javelin missile as it leaves the tube, with the back-blast streaming behind him.

ANALYSISAnalysis

America's Javelin line has nearly doubled, but Taiwan's biggest order still waits until 2031

Javelin output has nearly doubled, Lockheed Martin said in October 2026, but Taiwan's biggest order of 1,050 missiles is still due only from 2031.

TaiwanDefence · 3d ago · 4 min read

A Taiwanese fighter pilot in a flight suit sits in the open cockpit of a grey Indigenous Defense Fighter, holding his helmet after a flight

ANALYSISAnalysis

Taiwan is adding a fighter wing just as the senior pilots who lead and train it keep leaving

Before a 12 October 2026 hearing, Taiwan's budget shows a fourth straight cut in senior-pilot retention pay as 66 new F-16 Block 70 jets arrive.

TaiwanDefence · 3d ago · 4 min read

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, in a blue suit, shakes hands with a smiling US congressman in a dark suit in a reception room with a Taiwanese flag and calligraphy on the wall.

Industry

Lai asks visiting US lawmakers to move from arms sales to joint development and production of drones

Meeting two congressional delegations before National Day, Taiwan's president said Taipei and Washington should co-develop drone, counter-drone and AI decision-support systems.

TaiwanDefence · 4d ago · 3 min read

Two grey F-16 fighter jets fly in formation above a layer of cloud, seen past the wing of a larger aircraft.

ANALYSISAnalysis

Taiwan's F-16V fleet faces two more years without its crash-avoidance safety net and its standoff glide bomb

A defence ministry report on 9 October 2026 puts both the Auto GCAS retrofit and AGM-154C deliveries at end-2028, leaving the core fighter fleet short of both.

TaiwanDefence · 4d ago · 4 min read

View from the bow of a grey warship, with crew in orange life vests on deck and several naval vessels spread across a calm sea ahead

Cross-Strait

Taiwan formally confirms retired US general observes Han Kuang drills with Indo-Pacific Command team

A defence ministry report to lawmakers sets out for the first time how US observers assess Taiwan's main annual exercise and feed in recommendations.

TaiwanDefence · 5d ago · 2 min read

A pale grey multi-storey legislative hall with a flagpole on the roof and a wide staircase leading to its entrance, surrounded by trees and apartment blocks.

ANALYSISAnalysis

Taiwan's new defence committee leaders set up a session-long fight over drones, manpower and delays

In convener elections on 8 October 2026, the DPP drew the defence ministry's agenda while the KMT's Hsu Chiao-hsin put manpower and arms delays first.

TaiwanDefence · 6d ago · 3 min read

A grey two-seat F-16 fighter jet with Bahraini markings lands on a desert runway, with a yellow control tower and brown mountains behind it.

ANALYSISAnalysis

Taiwan's new F-16s face a maintenance bottleneck as deliveries finally begin

A legislative budget review reported on 7 October 2026 found Taiwan's F-16 repair centre holds only a third of its planned licensed capacity as new jets arrive.

TaiwanDefence · 6d ago · 4 min read

Navy

Lawmaker presses defence ministry over near-threefold cost jump for navy's next two rescue ships

Legislator Ma Wen-chun said on 7 October that each planned follow-on Dawu-class rescue ship would cost NT$10.58 billion, almost three times the NT$3.66 billion first ship.

TaiwanDefence · 6d ago · 3 min read

Army trainers present a U.S.-made ALTIUS 600M attack drone during an unmanned systems briefing

Industry

Taiwan MND preps drone buys and procurement as supplementary budget awaits vote

Defense officials say vendor briefings are done and aim for initial unmanned combat capability in 2027 once the legislature clears the NT$145.7 billion package.

TaiwanDefence · 2 Oct 2026 · 3 min read