Taiwan has received a first batch of 38 M1A2T tanks from the United States, marking the first time that the North American country has sent this type of armored vehicle to the island in 30 years, the state news agency CNA reported this Monday.
These 38 vehicles, which are variants of the M1 Abrams – the US Army’s main combat tank – arrived at the port of Taipei on Sunday and were later transported to a Taiwanese Army training center located in the northern county of Hsinchu.
In July 2019, under the Administration of former president (2017-2021) and current president-elect Donald Trump, the US State Department approved the sale of 108 M1A2T tanks to Taiwan for an estimated value of $2 billion, which constituted the third largest arms sale to the island during the Republican’s term.
According to the delivery schedule of the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) of Taiwan, The US will send 42 M1A2T tanks in 2025 and another 28 in 2026which will become part of the Taiwanese Sixth Army Command, which is responsible for the defense of the north of the island.
These armored vehicles are equipped with 120-millimeter smoothbore cannons, capable of penetrating 850-millimeter-thick armor and resisting projectiles fired from the majority of tanks currently in existence.
With these shipments, The US partially eases its delays in delivering weapons to Taiwanmotivated both by bureaucratic obstacles and by the excess demand of the American defense industry in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to estimates by the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank, the value of the weapons that have not yet arrived on the island amounted to $21.95 billion in November, an amount that also includes 66 F-16V fighters and 100 Harpoon missiles.
These delays coincide with the intensification of China’s military activities in the Strait, which has led the Taiwanese Government to propose an increase in the Defense budget to a “historic maximum” of 647,000 million Taiwan dollars (about 19,900 million dollars). by 2025.
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