The United States informed Taiwan that the delivery of the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer would be delayed.

Reuters inform about this.

According to the Taiwan Ministry of Defense, the reason for the delay is the “crowded” production line”. The reasons for this overload are not specified. However, Reuters links this to military aid plans for Ukraine.

Instead of 2023, deliveries to Taiwan will be carried out no earlier than 2026. It is possible that until that point, the BAE Systems’ facilities would be chartered to produce weapons for Ukraine’s defense.

In 2021, Taiwan made an agreement with the United States to purchase 40 units of Paladin ACS.

The M109A6 Paladin is a further upgrade of the self-propelled howitzers, which were first introduced to the service with the U.S. Army in 1992. A new turret with improved armor protection and Kevlar interior cladding has been installed in this modification. It is armed with the M284 howitzer on the M182A1 Mount.

The M109A6 is fitted with a new radio station, an automatic fire control system, an onboard ballistic calculator and a navigation system that provides automatic guidance of the gun, and a receiver of the NAVSTAR space radio navigation system.