Taiwan takes delivery of its first 6 Boeing Apache helicopters SEOUL, Taiwan, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Taiwan has taken delivery of 6 knocked-down Apache AH-64E helicopters from the United States as part of a larger order worth $2 billion. Defense Minister Yen Ming announced the arrival of the helicopters -- the first of 30 ordered from Boeing -- during a question-and-answer session in the country's parliament, the Legislative Yuan, this week, the China Post reported. "The six Apache helicopters arrived in southern Kaohsiung Harbor," Yen said. The helicopters are being re-assembled by army personnel and will undergo ground tests at the harbor site before being flown to an army Aviation Special Forces base in southern Tainan, China Post reported. The military said a second batch of helicopters is scheduled to arrive in December and will be commissioned next year. The army has sent 61 pilots to the United States for flight training on the Apaches. China Post reported that South Korea sealed the deal for the 30 Apache helicopters with former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2008. The procurement is part of Seoul's strategy to contain aggression by North Korea amid increasing political tensions on the Korean Peninsula. A report by The Korea Herald said the Apache's speed of upward of 160 mph will counter communist North Korea's use of attack hovercraft. In September, South Korea awarded Longbow a $51 million contract for the supply of 6 fire control radars, spares and in-country support for the Apache helicopters. Longbow, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, sold the systems as a foreign military sales contract, a statement from both companies said at the time. Longbow's range is nearly 5 miles in all weather and battlefield conditions. It automatically searches, detects, locates, classifies and prioritizes multiple moving and stationary targets on land, air and water. Production is scheduled through 2016, with assembly of the systems at Lockheed Martin's Ocala and Orlando, Fla., facilities, and Northrop Grumman's Baltimore, Md., facility, the statement said. Yen also said that buying submarines from the United States is the country's next priority. The Bush administration offered in 2008 to provide eight diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan, but so far, no significant progress towards the sale has been made, the Post reported. China Post also reported that Navy Chief of Staff Kao Tien-chung said the navy is considering a replacement for its Chaparral missile systems that were bought in 1972 and are deployed on its Lafayette-class frigates. The self-propelled surface-to-air Chaparral system, based on the AIM-9 Sidewinder, entered service with the U.S. Army in 1969 and was phased out by 1998. Kao said the navy is looking at the indigenously-produced Tien-Chien -- Sky Sword -- II air-to-air missile system that could be in use with the navy starting in 2017. Sky Sword II was developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology during the 1990s for the Taiwanese air force..