The Ministry of National Defense has asked the navy to reduce by almost one-third the number of surface to air missiles and anti-ship missiles it plans to buy together with four Kidd-class destroyers, defense sources said yesterday.
The move is aimed at cutting the cost of the Kidds by 15 percent, a demand the legislature made in a resolution passed late last year as a precondition for endorsing the budget for the deal.
If the navy does as it is told by the ministry, it will buy around 188 Standard SM-2 and Harpoon missiles, rather than the initial 288.
The navy's initial plans were to equip each Kidd-class destroyer with 72 SM-2 and Harpoon missiles, including four for practice purposes.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the navy knows very well it will not have enough missiles to use in conjunction with the Kidds if it agrees to the defense ministry's arrangement.
"But the navy has to take responsibility for the development. It was not able to make a decision on whether to ask the US to drop the total cost of the Kidds by 15 percent," the official said. "It left the decision to the ministry of defense."
"The Americans' stance on the issue is very clear. It does not want to offer any discount on the Kidds deal. It insists that the only way to down the total price is to reduce the number of missiles included in the package," he said.
The ministry's arrangement has yet to be accepted by the legislature's defense committee, which has put the Kidds' budget on hold until the navy is able to reduce the cost of the Kidds by 15 percent.
The two sides are to meet and discuss the issue next week at the earliest.
But it is not clear whether lawmakers on the defense committee of the legislature will support the defense ministry's arrangement.
A KMT lawmaker, who was one of the first to bring forward the proposal to cut the budget for the Kidds by 15 percent, was expected to play a key role in the matter.
An aide to the lawmaker, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the lawmaker has not made it clear how he would respond to the defense ministry's offer of buying less missiles as an alternative solution.
"Everyone knows that if the navy buys less missiles this year, it can choose to buy more next year. What is the difference? It is only playing with the rules," the aide said.
The navy has done similar things before. Two years ago it tried to secretly buy Harpoon missiles to replace domestically-built Hsiung Feng-II missiles.
But the deal was discovered and stopped by some lawmakers who strongly supported purchasing only local military products.
The navy was forced to shelf the purchase, but still put it into the next year's proposed budget and got the money cleared by the legislature.
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