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.
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