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Navy reveals actual cost of Kidds is twice earlier figure

The navy has asked for NT$56.8 billion to buy four Kidd-class destroyers from the US, far more than the NT$28.4 billion it originally said the ships would cost.

The new figure, part of the defense budget for 2003 recently presented to the legislature, includes the cost of the ships, their reactivation, crew training and weapons systems.

The original figure quoted by the navy included the cost of the ships with their basic weapons systems only.

The ships are being stored in a decomissioned state in the US, and it will cost NT$19.2 billion to reactivate them.

The navy is also buying an extra weapons system for Standard II extended range surface-to-air missiles. The navy is buying 288 of the missiles, at a cost of NT$9.1 billion.

The extra details are described in the defense budget proposal for the next fiscal year that the Ministry of National Defense (MND) recently submitted to the legislature for review and approval in the next session, set to open on Sept. 24. The request for NT$56.8 billion covers expenditure on the destroyers for the next five years.

The navy has been keen to buy the Standard II missile, which it considers a key element to expanding its air defense range.

The other key element is the three-dimensional radar on the Kidd-class destroyer, which will help coordinate the Standard II missile.

The navy's deployment plan for the four Kidds is to place two at either end of the Taiwan Strait, sources said.

But whether the Kidds can really boost the island's defenses has been questioned.

The Kidds, built in late 1970s, will cost an estimated NT$300 million a year to maintain.

In its budget proposal, however, the navy hints for the first time that the destroyers would be the "stepping stones" to the purchase of "new advanced combat ships" in the future.

The new advanced combat ships, though not identified, could be the AEGIS-class destroyers that the navy has been asking the US to sell it for years.
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