The information was revealed by six unnamed US officials on August 6, potentially heightening US-China tensions surrounding the Taiwan issue.

Taiwan sent a proposal to buy armed UAVs to the US earlier this year.

The Sea Guardian prototype flew in 2018. Photo: Pentagon.

The estimated cost for 4 Sea Guardian UAVs, including ground control stations, spare parts, training and technical support, can be up to 600 million USD.

This deal needs to be approved by the US Congress and President Donald Trump before proceeding.

This may be the first US UAV sale contract since President Donald Trump’s administration implemented a plan to increase UAV exports by reinterpreting provisions of the Missile Technology Control Treaty (MTCR).

However, US senators on August 6 proposed a bill banning the export, transfer or sale of modern UAVs to countries that are not close allies of Washington.

The US State Department and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the US both declined to comment on this information.

Sea Guardian is a maritime patrol aircraft developed by the US from the MQ-9 Reaper line.

The Sea Guardian version has a range of thousands of kilometers, far exceeding the 250 km of the UAV fleet in Taiwan’s defense force today.

China considers Taiwan a part of its territory and is willing to use force to unify it if necessary.