TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An agreement to station United States experts in Taiwan to conduct maintenance work on the latter’s Harpoon missiles has been extended until 2025, reports said Friday (Feb. 11).

In 2020, the U.S. announced it was selling 100 land-based Harpoon anti-ship missile systems to Taiwan in a package including 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon II missiles, four RTM-84L-4 Harpoon II training missiles, 100 launch vehicles, and 25 radar trucks for a total price of US$2.37 billion (NT$66.04 billion), CNA reported.

Since the Navy and Air Force already own three Harpoon missile systems, once the newly procured systems arrive, Taiwan will have four different versions of the same weapon. As the new missiles were not covered by the existing maintenance agreement, the Ministry of National Defense agreed to extend its validity until Sept. 2025.

At the same time, the price tag for the maintenance work will increase, from NT$392.64 million to NT$1.11 billion, but the revised contract will also cover the coastal Harpoon missiles, according to the CNA report.