The air force has begun construction on facilities to accommodate two long-range early warning radars in the north and south of the nation, defense sources said yesterday.
The two radars, to be bought from the US, will be capable of detecting targets approaching Taiwan from both the west and east and will have a maximum range of 3,000km.
They are to be stationed on top of mountains in northern Hsinchu county and southern Pingtung county.
The legislature recently passed the budget for the project for next year.
The radar units are not expected begin operations for five years.
Before these radars can become operational, the air force can use a medium-range unit with a range of 1,000km.
The medium-range radar, developed by the military's Chun Shan Institute of Science and Technology, is scheduled to be deployed next year.
The radar, called Changshan, is a variant of the Changbai phased-array radar that the institute developed for the Sky Bow-series air defense missiles.
Meanwhile, the air force is to upgrade the outdated C3I (command, control, communication and intelligence) system in Hualien to the level of the service's mainstay Strong Net C3I system.
The C3I system in Hualien is an older version known as Sky Net, which was the air force's main C3I system before the installation of Strong Net in late 1980s.
The Sky Net system was sidelined partly because it was found to be of no use after a fighter pilot flew an F-5E to defect to China in 1979.
Strong Net was built upon a Sky Net foundation, with improvements to many parts of the system.
But Hualien still uses Sky Net, which makes it one of the weakest points in the air force's defense network.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the eastern part of the nation is no longer safe.
"The east of the island used to be taken as the rear, with little chance of being attacked by China. But given that China has extended its projection of power from the Taiwan Strait to the Pacific Ocean, eastern Taiwan is in as much danger the west," the official said.
"Starting now, there will be no distinction between the frontline and the rear. We are desperate to make eastern Taiwan as safe as western Taiwan," he said.
Under the guidelines, the long-range radars will serve as the eyes of the nation to detect any hostile targets.
But the military still lacks real-time early warning satellite information, while China's PLA has already acquired such capabilities.
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