The Pentagon has announced a $1.17 billion contract with Taiwan that will include up to 400 land-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The deal states that production of the missiles won’t be completed until March of 2029. A Pentagon spokesperson spoke about the deal and said, “The United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.” This is the first deal Taiwan has made for the land-launched variant of the missile, Taiwan has previously acquired the ship-launched variant. This deal comes weeks after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke about increasing arms deliveries to Taiwan. I’m addition to McCarthy, Congressman Mike Gallagher, Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said he would like to get Harpoon missiles to Taiwan ahead of those scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia. A move that comes in response to China’s increasing military presence and exercises around Taiwan.
