Military to study missile defense

Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) yesterday announced that the military has set up a task force to plan for the establishment of a comprehensive missile defense system.

"Within 10 years, we expect to have the capabilities to effectively defend against China's ballistic missiles," Tang said.

Tang made the announcement yesterday at the first press conference he has called this year.

Tang did not go into detail about the missile defense system (MDS) that the military is developing.

But it was the first time that Tang made public a timetable for the development of the MDS, which had aroused much speculation from the press.

At the press conference, Tang talked about how the development of the MDS could counter China's development of ballistic missiles.

"Over the past one year, China has launched a total of 11 missile tests. It is actively developing missiles with a range of 6,000km, 8,000km, and 12,000km. The move clearly reflects China's ambitions," Tang said.

To counter missile threats from China, Tang said, "The military has set up a task force to plan for the establishment of a comprehensive missile defense system."

Tang refused to confirm whether the MDS will have anything to do with the theater missile defense system that the US plans to build in East Asia.

The development of MDS will be divided into three stages, defense sources said.

At the first stage, the military will build and deploy land-based missile interceptors and sensors (mainly radar) across the country.

The Patriot PAC-III missile defense system and a long-range radar are to be the key elements of the MDS at this stage.

The second stage will extend the deployment of missile interceptors and sensors to the sea.

The Kidd-class destroyers are to be the platform for the interceptors and sensors.

At the final stage, the military will seek to acquire airborne missile interceptors and sensors. This stage will be more difficult than the previous two.

The MDS, if built according to schedule, is expected to start operating within 10 years.

Costs for the MDS are estimated to be hundreds of billions of NT dollars, which would be a great financial burden to the military.

Vice commander-in-chief of the air force Lieutenant General Fu Wei-ku (傅慰孤) said at an international conference on Taiwan security in Taipei last month that given that building missile defenses against China is expensive, the military might as well consider a cheaper option.

The cheaper option, Fu said, is to develop offensive capabilities similar to the ones China is employing against Taiwan.