Reports say at least 150 Chinese jets have entered Taiwan's airspace since last week
amid escalating tensions with the island nation.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen stated that her country "will not bend to pressure" amid
repeated Chinese incursions into the nation's airspace.
Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has said military tensions with China are at their
worst in more than 40 years and China will be capable of mounting a full-scale invasion
of the democratic island by 2025.
The situation has got so tense that US President Biden and Chinese President Xi had a discussion
on this.
Biden said that, "I've spoken with Xi about Taiwan.
We agree, we'll abide by the Taiwan agreement," and added," We made it clear that I don't
think he should be doing anything other than abiding by the agreement."
While putting diplomatic pressure on China is a good idea, there is no alternative to
hard military power in case the situation degrades.
In this video Defense Updates lists 7 American made Taiwanese weapons that can stop the Chinese
military dead in its tracks Let's get into the details.
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FIM-92 Stinger is a Man-Portable Air-Defense System (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared
homing surface-to-air missile (SAM).
Stinger entered service in 1981 and is manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems.
FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile system consisting of a launcher and
missiles.
Stinger is light to carry and easy to operate.
It can be used by a single person or a two-member team consisting of a team chief and gunner.
It has a speed of Mach 2.54 and has a maximum range of 8 km or 5 miles.
Taiwan is in the process of acquiring 250 Stingers from the U.S and will fit nicely
into the Taiwan strategy of asymmetric warfare.
These could be used to target Chinese aerial assets.
The AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response) is an advanced
stand-off precision-guided, air-launched cruise missile produced by Boeing Defense, Space
& Security for the United States Armed Forces and their allies.
It is capable of attacking land and sea targets at a range of 270 km or 167 miles.
The SLAM-ER relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and infrared imaging for its
navigation and control, and it can strike both moving and stationary targets.
The SLAM-ER is a very accurate weapon and has one of the best circular error probable
(CEP) of any missile used by the U.S. Navy.
Taiwan is getting 135 of these potent missiles.
The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s
to replace the M44.
It has been upgraded a number of times.
The 39-calibre 155mm M284 cannon, which is fitted with an M182 gun mount, has a range
of 24km or 15 miles using unassisted rounds or 30 km or 18.5 miles using rocket assisted
rounds.
The M109A6 Paladin achieves a maximum firing rate of up to eight rounds a minute, or three
rounds in 15 seconds, and a sustained firing rate of one round every three minutes.
A 12.7mm M2 machine gun is mounted on the right-hand side of the turret.
The vehicle’s inertial positioning and navigation system are integrated with the automatic fire
control system.
U.S has already approved sales of 40 of these and more are in the pipeline.
Taiwan will receive the M1A2T which is a special configuration of the M1A2C.
M1A2C is the latest variant of Abram and contains many improvements over its predecessor.
This includes an Ammunition Data Link for improved targeting, the addition of enhanced-infrared
sights, an auxiliary power unit (APU), addition of passive armor as well a new explosive reactive
armor (ERA) package, and induction ofTrophy Active Protection System (APS) that can neutralize
incoming projectiles.
A better gun will also be present.
The main difference between the M1A2T & M1A2C is that it will have tungsten carbide armor
instead of depleted uranium armor.
The M1A2s will likely be added to two armored battalions in northern Taiwan and are expected
to replace some of the aging M60A3 “Patton” and CM-11 “Brave Tiger” tanks currently
in service.
These are expected to be deployed by 2022.
US Department of State before has approved the sale of 11 truck-based rocket launchers
made by Lockheed Martin Corp named HIMARS .
The HIMARS or M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System truck is capable of carrying
two PrSM missiles.
PrSM is a 13 foot missile designed to provide a long-range, precision-fire capability to
U.S. Army artillery.
The missile employs advanced, jam-resistant GPS and uses a warhead that explodes into
hundreds of preformed fragments, showering the target with shrapnel.
The PrSM has a range of 499 km or 310 miles.
The missile was initially meant only for surface-to-surface warfare and was designed to take on targets
such as air defenses, troop fortifications but with the introduction of advanced targeting
multi-mode seeker, it will be able to engage moving targets including Chinese surface combatants
in seas.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle
or UAV capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems primarily for the United States Air Force.
The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance
The MQ-9 is a larger, heavier, and more capable aircraft than its predecessor Predator and
has an endurance of 27 hours, a service ceiling of 50,000 ft, a range of 1,151 mi or 1,852
km and a max speed of 300 mph or 482 km/h
Reaper has the ability to carry around 2,500 lbs or 1100 kg of weapons payload through
its external hardpoints and can be armed with a combination of AGM-114 Hellfire, GBU-12
Paveway, and GBU-38 JDAM munitions.
4 of these are approved for sale and will be with Taiwan.
Taiwan & China are separated by the Taiwan Strait.
Reaper hovering over the strait will be an excellent force multiplier for Taiwan since
it will be able to keep a tab on the movement of Chinese forces.
The platform will essentially eliminate the possibility of China taking Taiwan by surprise.
The F-16 is a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General
Dynamics which is now Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force.
It was primarily designed to be an air superiority day fighter but has evolved into a successful
all-weather multirole aircraft.
It has a max speed of Mach 2 and a combat radius of 340 mi or 550 km.
The fighter can be armed with a wide range of air to air, air to ground, and anti-ship
weapons.
The F-16 has seen many upgrades over the years.
The V or Viper variant has the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR)
which is much more capable.
Another aspect is that the variant has Center Pedestal Display (CPD) which will enhance
situational awareness to a considerable extent.
Taiwan will receive 66 F-16 V by 2026.
Importantly its existing fleet of 142 F-16A and F-16B fighter jets will also be upgraded
to V variant.
So, the island expects to have a total
of 208 F-16Vs by 2026.