Taiwan's bid to purchase early warning radar made significant progress after the US Department of Defense issued a notice to select a radar system for the nation, Jane's Defence Weekly reported.
The radar system's capabilities include tactical ballistic missile alerts and maritime ship tracking, the weekly said in an article to be published on Wednesday.
It reported that Taipei is looking to purchase one early warning radar unit and two missile warning centers to be based at Loshan Mountain in Hsinchu at an estimated cost of US$830 million.
A second radar unit, to be based at Longshan in Pingtung, and two additional missile warning centers have been proposed, dependent on additional funding, Jane's said. The US government will make a final decision on the type of radar to be sold this year, sources say.
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are competing for the arms deal, with Raytheon proposing a modified version of its PAVE PAWS long-range early-warning radar.
Lockheed Martin is offering a rotating ultra-high frequency digital radar system that is enclosed in a dome.
The arms deal will be a foreign military sales program, under which the US government procures defense articles and services on behalf of a foreign customer.
Taiwan has deployed three batteries of US-made Patriot anti-missile systems to protect the Taipei area.
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