The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday for the first time publicly confirmed that its US$1.3 billion long-range early-warning radar (EWR) system in Hsinchu was operational and said it had tracked a highly controversial rocket launch shortly after it blasted off in North Korea.
In a statement, the ministry said it closely monitored the launch and that the rocket’s flight did not pose any threat to national security.
“Our long-range early-warning radar system detected the North Korean rocket flying over waters about 200km east of Taiwan, and that the first and second stages of the rocket crashed into waters off South Korea and the Philippines respectively,” the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: CNA screen grab from Google Maps
Ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said Chief of General Staff General Lin Chen-yi (林鎮夷) was charged with monitoring the situation at Hengshan Headquarters during the launch, adding that US-made Patriot missiles, domestically built Tien Kung air defense systems and Kidd-class destroyers equipped with surface-to-air missiles monitored the launch and were ready to respond.
This was the first time the ministry mentioned the radar system, which was built by US-based Raytheon Corp, as being operational. To date, the military has revealed few technical details about the radar installation, known as the “Anpang Project,” at Leshan (樂山) in Hsinchu County.
Lo later said that the radar system was formally inaugurated on Tuesday and has been operational since.
The installation’s development began in 1999, when US defense officials stressed the importance of Taiwan having early-warning capabilities to track Chinese missiles.
Following a series of debates in the legislature, a US$800 million request by the ministry was granted in November 2003 to fund one EWR site. In March the following year, a notification to US Congress made provisions for two EWR systems for US$1.8 billion, but in June 2005, Taiwan signed a US$752 million contract with Raytheon for only one radar system, with delivery in 2009, the Congressional Research Service said in its annual report on US arms sales to Taiwan, released last month.
Despite reports alleging that the current administration had abandoned plans to acquire a second EWR system, the decision not to do so was made in 2007, with industry sources saying it may have occurred as early as 2003.
From the onset, the program was plagued by a series of delays and cost overruns, bringing the total bill to about US$1.37 billion after three requests for additional funding.
Critics of the program have said Taiwan has paid far more than other US allies for such capabilities and accused Washington of using the EWR as a “money pit.”
Described as the most powerful EWR installation on the face of the planet, Taiwan’s radar can simultaneously track as many as 1,000 airborne targets the size of a golf ball within a range of 3,000km. The system can also track aircraft and may have the ability to monitor targets at sea, though there are doubts that the satellite-tracking is active.
The radar’s reach will give Taiwan a six-minute warning of a missile launch by China. Although defense officials have refused to confirm this publicly, Taiwan will likely share some of the data acquired through the radar with US forces based in the Pacific.
A spokesman for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) quoted him as saying that Pyongyang’s launch was “unwise” and created regional tensions.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also reacted.
“The DPP staunchly opposes any provocative act that threatens regional security,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
Su added that, unlike the US, South Korea and Japan, the Ma administration had failed to make sufficient preparations nor responded instantly “with the rocket already at the front door.”
“[The Ma administration] acted like this had nothing to do with Taiwan,” Su said.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and Chris Wang
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