VIDEO Battle for Taiwan. US sends Harpoon missiles. China retaliates with stealth planes

With US arms shipments to Taiwan long delayed amid a growing threat from China, some US lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to speed up the delivery of Harpoon anti-ship missiles (video above) and SLAM- ER.

Also Read: US and Chinese armies face to face only 2 km apart. Americans block invasion of Taiwan

The Battle for Taiwan. US sends Harpoon missiles. China retaliates with stealth planes

Recently, the US House of Representatives passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Of the $95 billion, $8.12 billion will go to the Asia-Pacific, including Taiwan.

Members of the US House of Representatives called for an investment of US$165 million (NT$5.3 billion) to expedite the delivery of Harpoon missiles to Taiwan in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee on April 17, according to eurasiantimes

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Led by US Rep. Mark Alford, Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer, Rob Wittman and Donald Davis signed the letter. The letter comes at a time when delivery of crucial weapons systems such as Abrams main battle tanks and F-16 Viper fighter jets has been delayed.

The request stipulates that the delivery of the missiles must be accelerated and that the weapons must be installed in Taiwan before the “Davidson Window,” or 2027 of a potential Chinese invasion, given by the former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Phillip Davidson.

“It is clear that Harpoons are the deterrent we urgently need to prevent China from invading or blockade Taiwan,” Alford wrote. According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the United States has approved the sale of 100 sets of shore-mounted Harpoon missile systems to Taiwan in 2020.

According to previous reports, Taiwan is working closely with the United States from 2022 to accelerate the delivery of Harpoon missiles. Taiwanese officials have been in talks with their American counterparts to secure the delivery of more than half of the missiles over the next three years and the rest by the end of 2029.

In addition, the Pentagon announced last April that Taiwan would buy up to 400 US Harpoon land-launched missiles in the face of growing threats from China. The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon anti-ship missile designed and manufactured by Boeing. Taiwan needs to acquire more anti-ship missiles in a shorter period of time to counter the growing military threat.

Unlike the Harpoon, which has remained in the headlines, the scheduled delivery of the Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missile, which has a range of about 270 kilometers.

China, responds with an invisible plane

Whatever happens with China’s new long-range stealth bomber, known as the Xi’an H-20, US officials are confident it will not live up to American designs, according to a Department of Defense official. Information.

“The thing about the H-20 is that when you actually look at the system design, it’s probably not nearly as good as the LO platforms [invizibile] American, especially the most advanced ones that we have in the pipeline,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity during a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon today.

“They ran into a lot of technical design challenges in terms of how the Chinese can make this stealth aircraft work in a similar way to, say, an American B-2 stealth aircraft or a B-21,” the official added.

The H-20 is expected to be Beijing’s answer to US aircraft such as the new B-21 Raider, although little is known about the Chinese program given its intense state secrecy.

In March, a Chinese military official reportedly told the state-run Hong Kong Commercial Daily newspaper that the H-20 would be unveiled soon.