The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is to make a budget request in 2005 for the purchase of the US-made Patriot PAC-3 air defense system, defense minister Tang Yao-ming (
The Patriot PAC-3 has been proven to be a reliable system through repeated tests and actual combat experience in the US strike on Iraq in March, Tang said.
Besides the Patriot PAC-3, Tang also announced that the MND has included the purchase plans for a C4ISR (command, control, communication, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) system and a long-range early warning radar system in the proposed defense budget for 2004.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The C4ISR system is to cost around NT$49 billion, while the long-range early warning radar system around NT$25 billion, reports said. The cost for the Patriot PAC-3 has yet to be set by the US. A quotation for the system is not available until sometime before next August, Tang said.
Tang said the ministry expected to complete a purchase plan for the system by the end of the year.
"But no budget plans could be made for the moment for the purchase. The cost for the PAC-3 will not be known until sometime before next August. So, we will not be able to make our budget request for the purchase of the PAC-3 until 2005," he said.
Tang made the remarks yesterday at a press conference he called for the purpose of paying respect to the press prior to Journalists' Day, Monday.
Arms purchases were the focus of attention. The Patriot PAC-3, diesel-electric submarines, and P-3C anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the major items on the MND's shopping list, were frequently asked about.
"We want to buy the PAC-3 mainly to defend against the ballistic missile threat from China. China is now deploying around 500 ballistic missiles against Taiwan across the strait," Tang said.
"As the PAC-3 is to become part of our missile defense shield, we will not give up our plans to develop a missile defense system on our own," he said.
As to the diesel-electric submarine and P-3C aircraft, the progress of acquisition has not gone well.
"Due to pressure from China, we face a lot of difficulties in the process of looking for a supplier of the submarine. We have not determined what sort of submarine we want since it depends on what we can get," Tang said.
"The P-3C aircraft is not easily available, either. If we want to buy new aircraft of the kind, the cost will be very high since the US has to re-open a production line for these aircraft," he said.
"We are looking for alternative solutions. We do not object to leasing or buying second-hand aircraft." The Patriot PAC-3, the submarine, and P-3C aircraft, because of their high costs, are to be purchased through a special budget that the MND is to ask from the Cabinet
The special budget was initially reported to be made ready next year, but Tang's remarks yesterday suggest the situation is much more complicated than it looks.
The MND might need a special budget of over NT$700 billion, rather than the NT$520 billion so far reported, for the purchase of these three top-of-the-wish-list weapons systems, since the submarine purchase alone would cost at least NT$400 billion according to estimates by the navy.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat