The US is moving forward with three sales of advanced weapons to Taiwan. That was the word from a Reuters report on Monday that cited three sources familiar with the situation that said a notification of the deals have been sent to the US Congress for approval.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that Taiwan is under a growing threat from China. Taiwan hopes that the US will continue to sell Taiwan defensive weapons according to the Six Assurances and Taiwan Relations Act.
The report said that leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees were notified that three of the planned weapons sales had been approved by the U.S. State Department.
The packages include a truck-based rocket launcher called a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), long-range air-to-ground missiles called SLAM-ER and external sensor pods for F-16 jets. The pods can enable real-time transmission of data from the aircraft to base stations. Other weapons packages for Taiwan are also expected to be sent to Congress soon.