US may approve JASSM sale: officialBy Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe US is likely to approve the sale of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs) to Taiwan by the end of this year for use by its Lockheed Martin F-16Vs, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark hours after the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved the export of 50 JASSMs to Japan for US$104 million. The ministry in January announced plans to spend NT$4.51 billion to acquire long-range precision weapons for the air force’s F-16 fleet. According to other sources in the military, the long-range precision weapons could be 100km and 380km-range JASSMs, the AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response and the glide bomb AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon. The Legislative Yuan is scheduled to discuss the defense budget with ministry officials this week.
