The Ministry of National Defense has terminated a contract for maintenance of army jeeps with Idano Co (壹達諾汽車系統) after finding Chinese parts in components supplied by the firm, a high-ranking defense official said yesterday.
The Army Command Headquarters said it terminated the contract following a review of internal reports released in May that showed the contractor was supplying the military’s Storm 3 light tactical utility vehicles with parts made in China.
The command requested and obtained ministry authorization to terminate the contract, it said, adding that army units are to individually source parts for their vehicles until a new service-wide contract is awarded.
Photo: Military News Agency
Idano in November last year was awarded a NT$200 million (US$6.35 million) contract to maintain the military’s Storm 3 utility trucks, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The company sourced the parts from subcontractors, the official added.
The move was widely criticized by lawmakers and media firms, as Idano had a net worth of just NT$1 million at the time, the official said.
Military personnel complained about poor quality control of parts supplied by Idano and the discovery of Chinese parts was the last straw for army brass, the official said.
In 2009, the ministry awarded Sanyang Motors (三陽工業) and AEI, an Israel-based firm, a NT$4.8 billion contract to supply the armed forces with 3,598 Storm 3 vehicles to replace M151 jeeps and several types of Humvee.
The military ordered three Storm 3 variants, the soft-top, the soft-top with a machine gun mount and the hard-top.
The project was plagued with production issues, including headlights that failed to meet army standards, which delayed initial delivery of the vehicles from 2011 to late 2015.
Some military units that received the trucks have complained about their build quality.
The army has said that the Storm 3 project was conducted in accordance to the law.
In other news, the ministry on Monday announced that the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been awarded a NT$916 million limited-bidding contract to maintain the army’s 17 CS/MPQ-90 Bee Eye mobile air defense phased array radar systems until December 2025.
The Bee Eye contract ensures the continued maintenance of the army’s mobile radar systems after the expiry of the manufacturer’s two-year warranty following their deployment in 2014, contract notification documents showed.
The contract allocated NT$204.39 million for this year, but gave no details about figures beyond that.
The vehicle-mounted radar systems are a key component of the military’s airspace defense, with their mobility providing an advantage over fixed systems if they are attacked.
Eleven more Bee Eye systems have been ordered to be deployed in Taiwan’s outlying counties starting this year.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu
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