《TAIPEI TIMES》Military purchases to top NT$50bn annually: report

GEARING UP: Additional military spending for the 2024 fiscal year is to go toward new fighter jets and fulfilling naval and air-combat enhancement plans, the Cabinet said

By Chung Li-hua and William Hetherington

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Staff reporter, with staff writer

Military purchases are expected to reach NT$231.853 billion （US$7.27 billion） over the next four years, exceeding NT$50 billion annually, the legislature’s Budget Center said.

Based on government data, that would be more than double what was spent between 2020 and this year, when the military spent between NT$17.9 billion and NT$25.2 billion annually.

The Executive Yuan on Thursday approved a budget of NT$606.8 billion for the military for fiscal year 2024, which includes NT$440.6 billion in expenditures, along with special budgets that could be allocated to the Ministry of National Defense.

The Cabinet said that part of the additional military spending next year — which is 7.7 percent more than that of the current fiscal year — would go toward new fighter jets and the procurement of naval and air-combat power enhancement plans.

That would include new advanced training aircraft, combat-performance improvements to the navy’s Kang Ding-class guided-missile frigates and upgraded missile systems.

The budget is also to include weapons procured from the US including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, uncrewed aerial vehicle （UAV） systems, M1A2T Abrams tanks and infrared search and track systems for upgrading the air force’s fleet of F-16 jets.

Other equipment to be purchased over the next four years would include Harpoon missiles for coastal defense, long-range submarine-launched heavy torpedoes, a surveillance pod for F-16s, long-range precision weapons for F-16s, high-altitude UAV systems, Block 1B Phalanx advanced radar-controlled gun systems for navy vessels and portable short-range anti-aircraft missile systems.

Publicly available military budget information shows that 17 procurement requests made for fiscal year 2023 have already been approved, 12 of which are to be fulfilled by 2027. A total of NT$335.8 billion has been allocated for those items under the current fiscal year’s budget, and a remaining NT$106.1 billion for the items is expected to account for part of later annual budgets.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES