The capabilities of Taiwan’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System will be reinforced later this year by a major new contract awarded this week to US defense firm Raytheon.
The US Army Aviation and Missile Command is to give Raytheon US$26.9 million to “refurbish” Taiwan’s Patriot system, train operators and help prepare for an attack.
The service is necessary because the Patriots have been upgraded to “Configuration-3” status ahead of schedule.
“We’re very pleased that the upgrades are happening on an accelerated timeline,” said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
“This will provide Taiwan with an enhanced level of security sooner than expected. Upgrades ensure that Taiwan’s Patriots are fully capable of detecting, classifying and engaging all known and future hostile threats, including aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.
Raytheon won a US$154 million contract in January for the job.
Patriot missiles have a range of 70km and a maximum altitude of about 24km. The upgraded Patriot is designed to shoot down tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and advanced aircraft.
But as William Hawkins, a former Republican Congressional staff member and consultant specializing in global security issues, wrote on a defense-themed Web site this week, Taiwan has not nearly enough Patriot systems “to blunt the barrage of short range ballistic missiles China has aimed at the island.”
Hawkins analyzed a new report by the RAND Corporation — a leading nonprofit US defense think tank — on the military balance across the Taiwan Strait.
“Depending on missile accuracy, between 90 and 240 short range ballistic missiles — well within the range of estimates of the number of launchers China will field in the near future — could, with proper warheads, cut every runway at Taiwan’s half-dozen main fighter bases and destroy essentially all of the aircraft parked on ramps in the open at those installations,” the study said.
“By so doing, China could knock the Republic of China Air Force out of the war for long enough to launch large-scale air raids on Taiwan intended to destroy any aircraft parked in shelters, as well as other hardened targets,” it said.
Hawkins said the destruction of airbases would cripple the ability of the US to fly in reinforcements.
He said the Patriot system was a “point defense system” that only covers certain high value sites.
“Taiwan needs an area defense missile defense system with the range to intercept Chinese ballistic missiles as they cross the strait,” Hawkins said.
“Japan has a similar problem, which also affects the defense of US bases on Okinawa. Tokyo has expressed interest in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] system to augment its land-based ballistic missile defenses, which, like Taiwan, are based on the Patriot system,” he said.
“Japan and Taiwan should be allowed to buy THAAD,” he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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