Taiwan will receive its first pair of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SkyGuardian unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in the third quarter of 2026, while Lockheed Martin works to fulfil a key fighter contract.
A second pair of MQ-9Bs will be delivered in 2027, according to air force chief Lee Ching-jan, in remarks to the country’s legislature reported by local media.
GA-ASI secured a $218 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for the four UAVs in May 2023. At the time, the US government expected that the contract would be completed in May 2025.
The original Taiwan MQ-9B FMS case included a full intelligence, surveillance and reconaissance suite: the L3 Wescam MX-20 multi-spectral targeting system, Raytheon’s SeaVue maritime patrol radar, and Leonardo’s Sage 750 electronic surveillance system.
This suite will allow Taipei to rapidly detect, identify and track vessels in its surrounding seas. This is increasingly imperative owing to regular incursions by Chinese military and paramilitary vessels into Taiwanese waters. In addition, Taiwan sits astride major North Asian shipping lanes.
Taiwanese media reports have also cited officials as saying that Lockheed is working hard to advance deliveries of the country’s 66 on-order F-16V fighters.
According to Reuters, the defence ministry told lawmakers have said that Lockheed has added shifts at its Greenville, South Carolina factory to speed up production.
This followed air force chief Lee telling legislators that the jets are unlikely to arrive before 2027, beyond the end-2026 delivery target. Original plans had called for the jets to arrive in the 2025-2026 timeframe.
When contact by FlightGlobal, Lockheed did not provide a timeline for Taiwan’s jets, though it said it hopes to accelerate deliveries.
“Lockheed Martin is committed to delivering mission-critical deterrence capabilities to support Taiwan’s security goals,” says the US company.
“This includes 66 new production Block 70 aircraft, along with Taiwan’s F-16 Viper upgrade programme, which was completed in December 2023. We continue to work closely with the US government to accelerate delivery timelines where possible.”
