Taiwan Rejects Japanese-Made Patriots as Iran War Threatens US Deliveries

Taiwan faces a possible delay in receiving the US-made Patriot interceptors it ordered, but its military is resisting an alternative involving missiles produced in Japan.

A Taiwanese military official said Taiwan bought American Patriots and would not agree to a Japanese-made replacement. Japanese-produced Patriots are reportedly supplied to the United States for American use, with restrictions on transferring them to third countries.

Taiwan’s defense authorities told parliament in March that 102 PAC-3 missiles would arrive this year as scheduled. Recent analysis in the United States has raised doubts about that timetable, however, after the Pentagon used much of its interceptor stockpile in the Middle East. The Washington Post reported that Taiwanese officials feared “substantial delays” in the PAC-3 deliveries.

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What we purchased were US-made Patriot missiles.

Taiwan has roughly $30 billion in approved US weapons that have not yet been delivered. Patriot-related orders account for $882 million of that total. The New York Times estimated that the US military had used more than 1,500 Patriot interceptors in the war with Iran, reducing remaining stocks to fewer than 1,700. Replenishing the missiles could take more than two years.

The United States is responding by importing Patriots made in Japan and expanding production capacity in Europe. Taiwan regards the Patriot system, alongside its domestically developed Tien Kung-3, as a key defense against a possible Chinese missile attack. It plans to spend about 20 billion New Taiwan dollars by 2027 to buy 300 additional PAC-3 missiles, raising its inventory to roughly 650.

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The US side has never said they were Japanese-made, and Taiwan would not agree either.