Taiwan has signed an NT$11.25 billion (US$345.5 million) contract with the US to procure infrared search and track (IRST) systems that, according to a military source, are to be used for F-16V jets.
A notice posted yesterday on the Government e-Procurement System said that the deal to procure the systems was signed by the Ministry of Defense’s Defense Mission to the US and the American Institute in Taiwan on June 25.
The contract is valid from the day it was signed to Dec. 31, 2030.
Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP
The systems, which were first announced in an arms sale package of the IRST systems and 16 related items on Aug. 23 last year, would be used on Taiwan’s fleet of 66 F-16V jets ordered from the US, a military source with knowledge of the matter said.
According to the notice on the procurement system, the contract’s supervising agency is the air force, with an address corresponding to the Zhi-Hang Air Base in Taitung County, where the F-16Vs are to be stationed.
The ministry said the new-generation IRST systems were developed specifically for the F-16V and would vastly enhance the fighters’ target acquisition and tracking capabilities, as well as their overall air combat performance.
Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), an expert at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, last year told reporters that the IRSTs could be effectively deployed against China’s fifth-generation fighters.
The systems are capable of picking up heat signatures emitted by aircraft such as engine exhausts, and heat generated by friction between the fuselage and the air, giving it the upper hand on China’s new fighters, which would be otherwise hard to detect due to their compact radar cross-section, Shu 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
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,”
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
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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