Taiwan’s Additional HIMARS To Arrive A Year Ahead Of Schedule
Taiwan’s defense ministry announced on Wednesday that it would be receiving the first of its second batch of 18 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems in 2026, a year ahead of the original delivery schedule.
In a press release, the Ministry of National Defense said that the United States had agreed to Taipei’s request for its order to be prioritized, with the start of deliveries moved up from 2027. The release also disclosed that an amended contract for the purchase had been signed on April 20.
Taiwan had originally signed a deal for 11 HIMARS launchers and support systems in 2021 under its “Long Range Precision Fires System” program. Taipei subsequently announced plans to order an additional 18 in 2022 after scrapping plans to procure 40 M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, citing issues with speed of production and delivery of the Paladins.
Lee Shih-Chiang, director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Department of Strategic Planning, told Taiwanese lawmakers last Thursday that the original batch of 11 HIMARS was on schedule for deliveries in 2024 or 2025. According to him, the current total cost of the 29 HIMARS is NT$32.5 billion (US$1.06 billion), inclusive of 84 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and 864 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) rockets.
The announcement of the second batch of Taiwanese HIMARS’ accelerated delivery follows comments made in early April by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul during his visit to Taiwan, where he said that he was doing everything he could to expedite the delivery of American weapon systems ordered by Taipei. Speaking during a visit to Taiwan’s parliament on April 7, McCaul said that he wanted to do “everything possible” to speed up transfers, including reprioritizing orders and allowing allies with the systems in their inventory to transfer them to Taiwan, to deter the People’s Republic of China from attempting an invasion of Taiwan.