The U.S. government has authorized the potential sale of 720 Switchblade 300 loitering munitions, designed for both anti-personnel and anti-armor capabilities, to the Taiwanese Army in a deal estimated at around $60.2 million. This information comes from a notification made public yesterday by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Taiwan has requested a total of 720 Switchblade 300 loitering munitions, along with 101 SB300 launch control systems. As customary, the acquisition also includes technical and logistical support from the U.S., meaning Taiwan will have access to user manuals, training courses, technical assessments for base integration, and transportation of the munitions, among other services.
The primary contractor involved in this potential sale is AeroVironment, Inc., headquartered in California, which has collaborated with the U.S. Army Contracting Command to outline the contract details. The agreement stipulates the involvement of ten Americans over a five-year period to ensure contract conditions are met, including eight U.S. military representatives and two from the contractor.
According to the DSCA, the sale “is consistent with U.S. law and policy as expressed in Public Law 96-8 (…) [and] serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s ongoing efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a credible defensive capability. The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and support political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. (…) The recipient will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
It’s noteworthy that the Switchblade 300 munitions feature high-resolution EO/IR panoramic cameras with a 20-minute flight endurance, allowing operators to obtain target images beyond their line of sight (up to 30 kilometers according to the manufacturer), complemented by GPS for precise targeting. Weighing only about 4 kilograms per projectile, they can be deployed within 2 minutes from various platforms, making them highly versatile tools on the battlefield (already deployed, for example, in Ukraine).
*Images used for illustrative purposes
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