US defense industry plans first #Taiwan trip in four years (Contractors to explore co-production of drones and ammunition)

Get Ya Wig Split · Apr 11, 2023

U.S. defense industry plans first Taiwan trip in four years

Contractors to explore co-production of drones and ammunition

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WASHINGTON -- Around 25 U.S. defense contractors plan to send representatives to Taiwan in early May to discuss joint production of drones and ammunition, US Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers told Nikkei, as Washington explores various options to help bolster the island's defenses.

The delegation will be led by Steven Rudder, the retired commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific. This would be the first large group of envoys focused specifically on the defense industry to visit Taiwan from the U.S. since 2019.

In addition to talks with representatives from the Taiwanese defense industry, it is looking to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Hammond-Chambers said that Tsai is focused on bolstering Taiwan's defense industry and that the trip is meant "to promote defense industry cooperation with Taiwan."

Regarding the agenda, Hammond-Chambers said the Taiwanese side is interested in drones -- airborne, surface and subsea -- as well as ammunition.
The U.S. delegation will look for opportunities to provide advanced technology and jointly develop drones with Taiwanese companies. Several American defense contractors with drone expertise will take part in the upcoming trip.

Drones can be used for both surveillance and armed attacks and are considered a critical tool in deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. They are also relatively cheap and can easily be deployed at a large scale.

U.S. companies typically require government authorization to jointly produce weapons with overseas partners.

"From a very high-level perspective, we think that co-production arrangements make sense, but we need to take a look at them on a case-by-case basis, and it has to be at the request of U.S. industry," a senior Biden administration official told Nikkei.

Washington is open to the idea largely because American defense contractors are already struggling to keep up with obligations at home and abroad. The U.S. still needs to deliver around $19 billion in promised arms to Taiwan. Companies began boosting domestic production capacity following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but it will take time before these additions come online.

"The U.S. defense industrial base is not adequately prepared for the competitive security environment that now exists," warned Seth Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank here, in a January report.

"In a major regional conflict -- such as a war with China in the Taiwan Strait -- the U.S. use of munitions would likely exceed the current stockpiles of the U.S. Department of Defense," Jones wrote. He proposed co-production with overseas partners as a potential solution.

In parallel with the defense industry efforts, the Biden administration is urging some European countries to help arm Taiwan. Almost all of the weaponry that Taiwan has procured from overseas in recent years has come from the U.S.

"It is a widespread opinion of the Biden administration that Taiwan should be able to procure from a variety of different sources," the Biden administration official said

"We understand areas where it might make sense for some of our allies and partners who manufacture certain capabilities, for those capabilities to be made available to Taiwan," the official said. "In those cases, we definitely are reaching out to those partners."

Three sources involved in the defense partnership between the U.S. and Taiwan said Washington has been reaching out mostly to European countries.
Sweden could be one. The Excalibur guided artillery shell, developed jointly by U.S. Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Swedish BAE Systems Bofor, can be used in precision strikes and is seen bolstering Taiwan's defensive capabilities.

To export arms developed with a foreign partner to a third country or region, a U.S. company needs approval from that partner's government. The Excalibur was never exported to Taiwan under then-U.S. President Donald Trump because Sweden wanted to avoid backlash from Beijing, according to the three sources. But one said the Biden administration had not dismissed the possibility.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the military to be capable by 2027 of invading Taiwan, CIA Director William Burns has warned. Some believe that Beijing is now slightly relaxing the pressure on Taiwan ahead of the island's 2024 presidential election, though concern over a possible invasion persists in the U.S.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy committed to reinforcing Taiwan's self-defense capability at a meeting with Tsai in California last Wednesday.
"The friendship between the people of Taiwan and America is a matter of profound importance to the free world, and it is critical to maintain economic freedom, peace and regional stability," McCarthy stressed.