Navy confident it will acquire AEGIS destroyers from US

The navy said yesterday it was confident that it would be able to acquire the AEGIS-class destroyer from the US.

"We think we will be able to acquire the AEGIS in 10 years," said Rear Admiral Tung Hsiang-lung (董翔龍), director of the planning bureau of Navy General Headquarters.

Tung was responding to questions about whether the navy would consider some lawmakers' suggestions that the navy should buy the AEGIS rather than the Kidd-class destroyer.

The navy has agreed to buy four Kidds, which it plans to deploy by 2005, with the first two expected to be delivered by the end of next year at the earliest, sources said.

But lawmakers, led by the PFP's Nelson Ku (顧崇廉), who is also an ex-navy commander-in-chief, argued that the Kidds would not meet Taiwan's defense needs.

However, Tung defended the decision to buy the Kidds, rather than holding off until a deal can be struck with the US to buy the AEGIS-class destroyers with their advanced radar systems.

"The Kidd is a good battleship. It is inferior to the AEGIS only in one area -- the ability to attack ground targets with missiles," Tung said.

"Before the acquisition of the AEGIS, we have to rely on the Kidd-class destroyer to maintain the balance of power in 2005.

"The four Kidds, though currently mothballed in a naval shipyard, are in good condition. In April, we sent officials to the US to check these ships in person. We are told that these ships could be brought back to service quickly after certain treatment."

Tung said the navy hopes to get full support from the legislature for the purchase of the Kidds, since the navy has no other battleships to counter the growing Chinese navy over the next few years.

Lawmakers with the Defense Committee of the legislature are still divided over whether to support the purchase plan, despite intensive lobbying by the navy.

The navy is anxious to get guarantees of support from Defense Committee lawmakers because it will send the budget proposal for the purchase to the committee for screening and approval in the next session of the legislature.

But it has yet to get a positive response from the committee's lawmakers, who, regardless of political affiliations, are largely against the Kidd purchases for a variety of reasons.

The lawmakers complain, for instance, about the price of the four Kidds -- NT$28.4 billion in total.

KMT legislator Lin Nan-sheng (林南生), a committee member, said the four Kidds are not worth that price, because they are decommissioned ships and that the navy might consider paying for the four ships at leasing prices.

In response, Tung said the NT$28.4 billion would include all the costs that are needed to bring the four Kidds back into service.

The deal also includes 288 missiles, including the Standard Missile-II anti-aircraft missile.

The US declined to sell Taiwan the AEGIS-class destroyers during negotiations last year.