Taiwan receives letter from U.S. offering sale of F-16s (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/24
By: Wang Yang-yu, Matt Yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taiwan has received a draft letter of offer and acceptance (LOA), a contract between the United States military and a foreign military sale customer, detailing its offer to sell 66 F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, the defense ministry said Thursday.

Having received the draft LOA, Taiwan will now further evaluate its military needs before signing the official LOA and sending it back to the U.S. to finalize the deal, according to the ministry.

Taiwan will examine details such as prices, military equipment and other items and will discuss the offer with the U.S. before signing the official LOA, the ministry said.

In September, Taiwan's Legislature initially approved a draft bill that would allow the government to create a special budget of up to NT$250 billion (US$8.17 billion) to procure the 66 F-16 C/D Block 70 fighter jets, known as F-16Vs.    [FULL  STORY]