Defense Minister Wellington Koo says the U-S has agreed to defer the deadline
for an initial payment on a key American-made weapons system due to the
onging defense budget impasse.

Speaking at a legislative hearing, Koo confirmed that the first payment for
High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems has been postponed beyond its March 30
deadline to around May ...

.... when Koo said the U-S expects to finalize a contract with a supplier for
the 4.05-billion U-S dollar sale.

According to the defense minister, the military is also in talks with the U-S
on payment deferrals for three other weapons systems also approved for sale
to Taiwan and facing budget issues.

Koo told lawmakers that the initial payments for the four planned purchases
total approximately 79-million U-S dollars.

The U-S announced the sale of the artillery rocket systems, self-propelled
howitzers, TOW anti-tank missiles and Javelin missiles in December of last
year as part of a broader 11.1-billion U-S dollars arms package.