The army deployed last year an electronic warfare system bought from France as part of its efforts toward modernization, defense sources said yesterday.
The electronic warfare system cost the army over NT$100 million, which is relatively cheap considering its ability to cover the nation.
The system is the product of Thales, the Taiwan branch of Thomson-CSF, an arms manufacturing giant in France.
The system is comprised of four mobile electronic warfare-capable vehicles, which are deployed in different parts of the nation to form a country-wide network.
The system is capable of passively receiving radio signals from a long distance to find and determine the azimuth and distance of a possible hostile target. It was said to have detected radio signals over 2,000 km away but there has been no way to confirm this.
The system is also capable of launching electronic counter-measures (ECM) against the hostile target to achieve jamming effects.
It is the first of its kind that the army bought from France. The army has been relying heavily on the US in the past for the provision of equipment and weaponry.
The army is late in the acquisition of electronic warfare equipment since the air force and navy have already had such equipment for years.
In the years to come, the army is to spend a lot of money on buying more electronic warfare equipment from abroad, sources said.
The major supplier would be the US and France might share in only a small piece of the order.
The army is trying to activate an electronic warfare battalion on the basis of equipment and technology provided by the US.
The battalion is still under formation, with some personnel already being sent to the US for training in the field.
The army keeps the battalion as one of its top secrets, refusing to reveal any information about the unit.
Several years ago, the army had put to use electronic warfare equipment leased from the US in a training exercise in northern parts of the nation.
An army officer who had participated in the exercise, said he and other officers had only a glimpse of the electronic warfare equipment provided by the US and that only very few people knew the purpose of the equipment.
The equipment should be of the kind that the electronic-warfare battalion would need, the officer said.
In comparison, the French are more generous in the sharing of electronic-warfare equipment they have sold to Taiwan.
At a product exhibition last week in Taipei, Thales exhibited for the first time photos of the electronic-warfare system in use with the army here. The exhibition was presented by a local arms manufacturer. Thales participated in the show as a partner of the local arms manufacturer.
Besides photos, Thales also had several technicians at the site to explain to visitors various functions of the system sold to the Taiwan army.
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