Taiwan has placed a US$921 million order for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles as part of its military program to strengthen its air defense capabilities, a contract notification said on Monday.
In a press statement, Lockheed Martin Corp said the contract included missile and command launch system production and a follow-on sale of the PAC-3 Missile Segment to Taiwan.
The contract includes the -production of “hit-to-kill” PAC-3 missiles, launcher modification kits, spares and other equipment, as well as program management and services, Lockheed said, with delivery beginning in the first half of next year. Richard McDaniel, Lockheed vice president for the PAC-3 missile program, told Bloomberg the missiles would be delivered in 17 months, though he declined to disclose how many missiles were included in the order.
Contacted by the Taipei Times, David Wei (魏陵瑋), executive vice president for Lockheed Martin Global, Taiwan, would not confirm the number of missiles included in the deal, saying it was common practice to keep such numbers confidential.
Wei confirmed that this was the third annual order of PAC-3 missiles from Taiwan.
PAC-3 missiles were included in the October 2008 and January 2010 notifications to US Congress — 330 in the former and 114 in the latter notification, for a total of about US$5.9 billion.
Raytheon Corp, manufacturer of the PAC-3 firing units and radars, has received orders for six units from Taiwan. Delivery of the first four, which were part of the 2008 notification, is scheduled for 2014 or 2015. Late last month, Raytheon announced it had received a US$685.7 million contract for the fifth and sixth units, which were included in the 2010 arms package.
Taiwan is also spending US$939 million on upgrades to the three PAC-2 firing units it acquired in 1997 to PAC-3 configuration.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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