Procurement: May 22, 2003

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Taiwan, nervous about Chinas efforts to update its submarine fleet, and train the crews to a high standard, has been looking into replacing it's elderly (25 years old) fleet of 32 S-2 naval reconnaissance aircraft. Initially, the U.S. offered to sell them 12 new P-3C submarine hunters. But at $300 million each, this was more than Taiwan could afford. So now Taiwan is looking a buying refurbished American P-3Bs for $66 million each. Another option is to lease P-3s from the Department of Defense.