Raytheon Co, the world's largest missile maker, said it's seeking partners among Taiwan companies and plans to set up a maintenance-repair center on the island.
"Over the past four decades, we just sold products to Taiwan, but have yet to establish partnership here," Torkel Patterson, president of Raytheon International, Inc, said yesterday in Taipei, where the company is holding an exhibition.
Raytheon is among 18 overseas and 56 local exhibitors participating Aug. 11-14 at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition.
PHOTO: AP
The company, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is cooperating with Taiwan's government-backed Institute for Information Industry to jointly develop air traffic control systems, said Patterson, who didn't elaborate.
The Cabinet is proposing a budget of NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) for the next 15 years to buy submarines, anti-missile equipment and anti-submarine aircraft. The proposal, scaled back by 21 percent from a larger plan, is pending in Legislative Yuan after lawmakers balked at the original request.
"We hope to grab some of the orders," Patterson said, without elaborating.
Taiwan said it needs to increase defense spending because of rising tensions and military threats from China, which has 706 missiles aimed at Taiwan and is adding 120 more each year.
Excluding arms purchases, Taiwan has budgeted about NT$267 million for defense spending this year, or about 17 percent of the total.
The nation's annual defense budget last year accounted for 2.8 percent of gross domestic product, less than South Korea's 3 percent, the US's 4 percent, Singapore's 4.3 percent and Israel's 8 percent, the presidential office said in 2004.
Raytheon doesn't have a timetable for its Taiwan maintenance-repair center, Communication Manager Paul Stefens said. The company on June 23 received a US Air Force contract valued at US$752 million to provide Taiwan with an early-warning radar system.
The system will enable the Taiwan Air Force to detect and track ballistic and cruise missiles as well as aircraft and ships.
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