Taiwan expects US drone deal to be finalised by March next year: Report

Taipei [Taiwan], December 23 : Taiwan is expecting the US-made Sky Guardian uncrewed drones deal to be finalised by March next year, reported local media.
"A letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) for US-made Sky Guardian uncrewed drones is expected in March," Taiwan News quoted Minister of National Defence Chiu Kuo-cheng as saying during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee on Wednesday.
Taipei is also in talks with Washington on a deal for Paladin self-propelled howitzers.
The US has also promised other weapons to Taiwan as M2A2T Abrams tanks, F-16V Block 70 jets, M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and others. But Taipei has so far no clarity that when it will receive LOA for these deals.
"The Defence Ministry had been able to estimate when it would receive the Sky Guardian LOA because the legislature had approved the drone budget for next year," said Lee Shih-Chiang, head of the Ministry of National Defense's Department of Strategic Planning.
Lee also said that the ministry received the LOA for the field information communications systems and would move forward with that deal.
With regard to LOA for 40 M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, the ministry said that the deal is under discussion due to disagreements on price and the specifications of precision aiming parts. However, the ministry said that it expected a swift resolution of the disagreements and to receive the LOA for the deal soon, according to Taiwan News.