Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

RAYTHEON WINS CONTRACT TO SUPPLY TAIWAN WITH PHASED ARRAY RADAR

Central News Agency

2005-06-24 21:30:33

    Washington, June 24 (CNA) Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems has won a contract to supply Taiwan with an ultra high frequency phased array radar system to upgrade Taiwan's missile and air defense capabilities, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday.

    The early warning system includes an ultra high frequency phased array radar integrated with Taiwan-furnished identification friend-or-foe beacons, two missile warning centers, communications and interface architecture and protocol to specified Taiwan mission elements via the Taiwan military communications infrastructure.

    The Pentagon said the contract carries a price tag of US$752 million and that the new missile and air defense system is scheduled for completion by September 2009.

    Military experts said the ultra high frequency phased array radar system will enable Taiwan to detect signals of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles fired by China in a very early stage.

    The system to be supplied by Raytheon is one of the two early warning systems that Taiwan proposed to purchase more than a year ago.

    The Pentagon notified the Congress of its decision to sell Taiwan two ultra high frequency phased array radar systems and other related facilities in March 2004 in line with U.S. arms export regulations. Before that, Taiwan had passed the budget for the procurement project which will be worth US$1.776 billion.

(By Oliver Lin and Sofia Wu)

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