Massive U.S. arms sale to Taiwan (detailed contents).

For a couple of days, the official announcement of a massive U.S. arms sale to Taiwan is infuriating China. Here is the detail of the purchase.

M88A2 Hercules Armored Recovery Vehicle (Picture source: U.S. Army)

TECRO has requested to buy 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks; 122 M2 Chrysler mount machine guns; 216 M240 machine Guns; 14 M88A2 Hercules Armored Recovery Vehicles; 16 M1070A1 Heavy Equipment Transporters (HET); 572 M1002 TPMP-T1 rounds; 359 M831A1 HEAT Rounds; and 621 M865 TPCSPS-T2 rounds, and 828 M830Al HEAT Rounds.

Also included are 16 M1000 Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) semi-trailers; 64 Export Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS); 108 AN/PSN-13A Defense Advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver (DAGR) with Selective-Availability/Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM); 138 AN/VAS-5B Driver Vision Enhancer (DVE-A) kits; 108 M250 Smoke Grenade Launchers; 14 M239 Smoke Grenade Launchers; 7,862 KEW-Al rounds; 1,966 CA38 - cartridge, 120MM canister round; 864 M76 (G826) or L8Al /L8A3 (G815) smoke grenade rounds; 828 Insensitive Munitions High Explosive Tracer (IMHE-T) rounds; 22 sets Dummy CTG, 120mm APFSDS Armor­Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot (CA64); 22 Dummy Cartridge 120mm Canister Ml028; 22 Dummy M865 TPCSPS-T (C785), FMS export armor, Hunter/Killer technology, Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer (CITV); Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station-Low Profile (CROWS-LP); spare parts; support equipment; AGT-1500 tank engines and X-1100 tank transmissions; depot level support; Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE); repair parts; communication support equipment; communication equipment integration; tools and test equipment; training; training simulators; repair and return program; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; Technical Assistance Field Team (TAFT); and other related elements of logistics and program support.

Additionally, the following recommended basic load ammunition may be included upon request from customer: 115,400 A576 cartridges .50 caliber linked 4 API/API-T F/M2; 1,080 G8l5 - Grenade, Smoke Screening L8A1/A3; 2,462,400 A131 cartridges 7.62MM 4 BALL 1 tracer; 1,231,200 A111 cartridges, 7.62mm blank M82 Linked; 1,512) A541 50 Armor Piercing Incendiary, Tracer M20 F/M2; 91,800 A557 cartridges .50 caliber 4 Ball/1 Tracer Linked M33 F/M2; 54,000 A598 cartridges .50 Caliber blank F/M2 (MILES); and 4,968 AA38 cartridges .50 caliber M962 (SLAP); and other related elements of logistics and program support.

The M1A2T Abrams prime contractor will be General Dynamics Land Systems. Production will be at Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Alabama, and the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, Lima, Ohio. The M88A2 armored recovery vehicle prime contractor will be BAE Systems. The M1070A1 Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) prime contractor will be Oshkosh. There are no known offset agreements proposed. However, the purchaser typically requests offsets. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require annual trips to the recipient involving up to 30 U.S. Government and 15 contractor representatives for a period of up to six years to manage the fielding and training for the program.

The total estimated program cost is $2.22 billion.