US sends ‘unserviceable’ military arms to Taiwan

Faulty equipment includes mouldy body armour and damaged pallets

The United States sent faulty military items to Taiwan including mouldy armour and expired ammunition.
Most military equipment that suffered water damage was delivered from November 2023 through March 2024. 
They remained at the aerial port of embarkation for more than three months pending air transport to Taiwan. 
The army didn’t initiate requests for transportation until the end of 2023, unable to equip sufficient storage capacity. It failed to fully mitigate the exposure of items to adverse weather conditions.
The Department of Defense (DoD) failed to “effectively or efficiently implement accountability and quality controls for items delivered to Taiwan using the Presidential Drawdown Authority”, according to a report issued on Wednesday. 
“The DoD provided unserviceable and poorly packaged equipment and munitions to Taiwan.”
Photos clearly show damaged pallets and mouldy body armour that arrived in Taiwan in 2023, including more than 3,000 mildewed body armour plates and 500 wet and mouldy tactical vests. 
Personnel at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said the equipment was “soaking wet and full of mould”.
According to the report, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense issued a letter to the AIT’s security cooperation office in December 2023, stating that Taiwan had received 2.7 million rounds of ammunition.
This included expired, loose, and rounds of ammunition in the wrong packaging, which did not comply with shipping standards.
AIT described the open boxes of ammunition as “obviously extra boxes” of ammunition that give an impression of the army trying to “clear out stuff they didn’t want”.
Machine guns are also shipped without proper packaging such as serviceability paperwork, labels, wrapping, and cushioning. 
The National Defense Authorization Act 2023 authorised the US president to draw down up to $1 billion from existing DoD stock to provide military assistance to Taiwan. 
In July last year, Joe Biden approved $345 million worth of military equipment and services to provide assistance to Taiwan.
The delivery of faulty military equipment has led to additional costs for Taiwan authorities and weeks of unpacking, drying and inventorying the wet and mouldy items.
The Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command spent $618,894 in labour and materials to clean and dry the body armour, and an additional $113,492 to replace the damaged arms.
“The delivery of non-mission-capable items inhibit the DoD’s ability to achieve established security cooperation goals and may lead to loss of partner confidence in the United States,” the report concluded.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense told local media that the subject matter is jointly reviewed and addressed by both Taiwan and the US.