Taiwan, US defence contractors eye closer ties, with advanced fighter jets, drones in focus
- About 30 American arms contractors attend bilateral defence industry forum in Taipei as geopolitical situation seen to create ‘urgency’ for cooperation
- Taiwan hopes to build advanced jets with US support, and seeks unmanned aerial systems technology to boost asymmetric edge against PLA, forum hears
Hu Kai-hung, chairman of Taichung-based defence contractor Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), said business opportunities abounded in Taiwan as it looked to acquire more advanced military planes.
“When it comes to the development of the next-generation fighter, we look forward to the support from the US to build the jet ourselves, including the engine, avionics, control systems, environmental controls and so on,” Hu told the Taiwan-US Defence Industry Forum in Taipei. This was a potential area for defence sector partnership, he added.
The forum brought together US and Taiwanese companies to discuss the challenges for bilateral cooperation in the defence industry supply chain.
Some 30 US defence contractors, including giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, are on a weeklong visit to Taipei until Saturday to look for potential partners.
Heading the delegation are Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, and Steven Rudder, a retired American three-star general and naval aviator.
According to Hammond-Chambers, the forum discussed opportunities for partnerships, and how Taiwanese companies should position themselves to show they could be dependable partners, as well as ways to integrate Taiwan’s industrial capabilities into the global defence supply chain.
