by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Pentagon announced Friday that the United States has approved a new arms sale to Taiwan worth US$387 million, the Taipei Times (TT) reports. The sale represents the 18th arms deal with Taiwan to be approved by the Biden administration.
Requested by Taipei amid ongoing saber-rattling by the Chinese government – which considers Taiwan to be part of China – the sale includes F-16 fighter jets and follow-up support for Improved Mobile Subscriber Equipment (IMSE), TT reports. Delivery of the equipment is expected to begin in 2025.
In a statement, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the deal serves “US national, economic and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability” and that it would “help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region.”
The Taipei Presidential Office said Sunday that the new arms deal represents a deepened Taiwan-US security partnership and an important element in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, TT reports.
“[Tawian’s] Ministry of National Defense expressed gratitude to the US for the latest arms sale, which it said would continue to provide Taiwan with assistance building the nation’s self-defense capabilities and establish a foundation to maintain regional stability,” TT reports.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily allowed the Trump administration to continue collecting its 10% global tariff, pausing a lower-court ruling that found the import duties unlawful for three plaintiffs who had won relief last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a short-term administrative stay while it considers whether to keep the tariffs in place during the government’s appeal.
Saudi Arabia launched covert airstrikes inside Iran during the recent Middle East war, according to a Reuters exclusive citing two Western officials and two Iranian officials — a move that, if confirmed, would mark the first known Saudi military action carried out directly on Iranian soil. The reported strikes came in late March after the kingdom suffered Iranian attacks, including missile and drone strikes that exposed vulnerabilities in the U.S.-backed security umbrella protecting Gulf Arab states.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia had successfully test-fired its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile — nicknamed “Satan II” by NATO — declaring it the most powerful missile in the world and saying it would enter combat service by the end of 2026.
Hungary’s new government signaled Monday it will continue buying Russian energy despite European Union plans to phase out imports of Russian oil and natural gas, raising the prospect of an early confrontation with Brussels.
More than 100 new evangelical churches have reportedly opened and thousands of people have been baptized in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, church leaders say.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said an agreement between Iran and the United States may be the best path to ending Israeli military operations in Lebanon, while defiantly rejecting any outside demand that the Iranian-backed terrorist group disarm.
U.S. federal prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against the operator of the cargo ship that struck and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, killing six construction workers.