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Unfrozen funds to pay for linking of weapons systems

The legislature's defense committee yesterday reached an agreement to unfreeze two separate classified budgets of the military, worth NT$5.2 billion in total, for the construction of an intra-service communication system and an inter-service command, control and communication system.

The budgets include NT$2.6 billion for the Anchieh (安捷) project, which will include the army's purchase of a second unit of the US-made IMSE (improved mobile subscriber equipment) tactical communication system -- and another NT$2.6 billion for the Posheng (博勝) project, which is the first stage of a long-term plan to construct an inter-service command, control and communication system based on equipment that will be bought from the US.

These budgets had been frozen since the last session of the legislature because of opposition by some lawmakers to the two projects, which were criticized as being "too expensive" and as being "outdated technology."

In yesterday's closed-door meeting of the defense committee, lawmakers with the committee reached agreement after several hours' discussion on unfreezing the two budgets.

The agreement was reached on condition that the military will meet several requests by the committee regarding the two projects.

One request is that the US has to transfer to Taiwan technology for the IMSE and the inter-service command, control, and communication system, which is to be based on the US' Link 16, said PFP lawmaker Chao Liang-yen (趙良燕), a member of the defense committee.

Another request is that, if Taiwan is to sign a contract with the US on either of the deals, the contract has to be signed in Taiwan and it must be written in both Chinese and English, Chao said.

"We also asked the military to build a link with the army's IMSE and the Posheng system, although we know the two systems cannot be linked together at the moment," she said.

The unfrozen budgets are only part of the money that the military intends to spend on the two projects.

The army plans to spend another NT$11.3 billion on the purchase of several other units of the IMSE to build a nation-wide communication network.

As for the Posheng project, the NT$2.6 billion budget unfrozen yesterday is only for a preliminary study of the workability of the Link-16 system in Taiwan.

It is estimated that construction of the Link-16 system will cost around NT$47.3 billion.

The Link-16 system is expected to greatly enhance the joint-operation capabilities of the military because it forms data links between a variety of weapons systems -- of all the three services.

For the air force alone, the data link will enable different fighter planes to share and transmit real-time information -- this will, for instance enable information-sharing between the F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes.

The domestically-built IDF is to be excluded from the data-link system due to budgetary considerations and tactical concerns.

The state-run Aerospace Industry Development Corporation (AIDC), the developer of the IDF, is trying to persuade the military to include the IDF into the system -- and to award AIDC the contract to integrate the plane into the system.
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