Taipei, May 26 (CNA) The Republic of China military will test fire its US-made Patriot anti-missile defense system in September 2001, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed on Friday.
The ministry said the US authorities have agreed to the ROC military's planned live-fire tests of the advanced Patriot missile defense system.
"It will be the first live-fire testing of the Patriot missiles to take place off US soil," said an MND official, who preferred to remain anonymous.
The official said the testing will be conducted at the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology's Chiupeng base in southern Taiwan, and that the United States will send a team of experts to oversee the test.
The official said the planned test will disprove a recent Hong Kong newspaper report that the US control of certain software technology has prevented the ROC military from conducting live-fire tests of its Patriot anti-missile defense system.
The ROC took delivery of three sets of upgraded Patriot missile defense systems in 1996 and deployed them in the greater Taipei area. The three systems formally joined the defense services in July 1998 after passing US combat-readiness tests.
The MND official said the US combat-readiness certifying team gave high marks to the performance of the ROC Patriot units.
In mid-1999, the official said, the US team visited Taiwan again to evaluate the feasibility of conducting live-fire testing of the systems.
The official added as the US team was impressed by the ROC units' performance, they gave a green light to the proposal to conduct the live-fire testing in late September 2001.
Patriot missiles are the world's only anti-missile missiles with a proven combat record, having been used extensively during the Gulf War in 1991. (By Sofia Wu)
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