Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has unveiled the weapons intended for procurement under its proposed 1.25 trillion New Taiwan dollar ($40 billion) special defense budget.
Announced by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in November 2025, the proposed defense spending from 2026 to 2033 is aimed at bolstering the self-governed island’s defenses and domestic defense industry amid threats of a Chinese invasion.
The list covers precision artillery, long-range missiles, uncrewed platforms and counter-drone systems, air defense and anti-armor systems, AI-enabled systems, sustainment and wartime production capabilities, as well as weapons and equipment under a Taiwan-US partnership.
The publication follows Defense Minister Wellington Koo’s closed-door session with the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
It was a step intended to “allow defense modernization and readiness efforts to move forward,” following the bill’s repeated blocking by opposition parties — the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party — citing several reasons, including the lack of transparency about the items included, South China Morning Post reported.
Seven Weapon Categories
The defense ministry identified seven capability areas covered by the special defense budget, according to Taipei Times, some of which were already approved by Washington in an $11-billion foreign military sale in December 2025.
Within the 1.25-trillion New Taiwan dollar package, roughly 300 billion New Taiwan dollar ($9.4 billion) would be directed toward domestically developed systems, with most of the remainder set aside for overseas procurement, including US-made weapons.
Precision artillery tops the list, centered on 60 M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, 4,080 rounds of precision munitions, 60 ammunition resupply vehicles, 13 recovery vehicles, and related shells and auxiliary equipment.
It is followed by long-range precision strike capabilities, including 82 HIMARS launchers along with 1,203 pods of precision rockets and 420 tactical missiles.
A third category focuses on 1,554 Altius-700Ms and 478 Altius-600ISR drones, and around 200,000 uncrewed aerial vehicles for coastal surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as coastal attack missions.
It also covers over 1,000 uncrewed surface vessels and systems designed to defeat enemy drones.
The fourth in the list focuses on missile systems, including 70 Javelin anti-armor missile systems with 1,050 missiles, 24 TOW-2B anti-armor missile systems with 1,545 missiles, and related systems and munitions.
The fifth category emphasizes AI-enabled military systems, such as decision-support tools, tactical networks, and applications designed to speed intelligence sharing across units.
A sixth area is dedicated to combat sustainment and wartime production capacity, including expanded domestic output of ammunition, explosives, and propellants, small-arms primers, armored vehicle assembly lines, protective gear, night-vision equipment, and mobile battlefield-denial systems.
The list is rounded out by weapons and equipment co-developed and co-produced by Taiwan and the US, enabling Taipei to acquire emerging tech and enhance asymmetric combat capabilities.
Moreover, it also allocates funding for urgent munitions purchases — such as 120mm tank rounds, 105mm tank rounds, and 30mm autocannon ammunition — to boost readiness stockpiles and training requirements ahead of expanded local production.
