A proposal by the US government to extend a contract for an early warning facility in Hsinchu County aims to ensure that the system performs well, a military source said.
The proposal involves Leshan Radar Station in Wufeng Township (五峰), the source said, but declined to comment on whether the package would involve upgrades to the system.
The US$655.4 million extension is part of a planned US$1.1 billion arms sale package to Taiwan, which also includes 60 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles for US$355 million and 100 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles at a price of NT$85.6 million, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Friday.
The US Department of State has approved the proposed arms sale and forwarded it to the US Congress for review, the cooperation agency said.
The Leshan radar proved effective when it detected 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles that China fired into waters around Taiwan during the military exercises it conducted early last month, Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said on Saturday.
It is worth watching whether the contract extension will involve upgrades, Lin said.
Possible upgrades include boosting the system’s range, increasing its processing speed, raising the number of targets it can simultaneously track and linking it to systems used by local or foreign military units, thereby shortening its response time and boosting its accuracy, he said.
The Leshan station sits at an altitude of 2,620m and can detect missiles fired within a range of 5,000km. It can also track cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and ships within a 2,000km range.
The station employs an AN/FPS-115 Pave Paws system, which, thanks to the facility’s altitude, has a long range and early warning capabilities, said Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), an analyst at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
Considering the time that the system has been in use, the contract extension could entail the renewal of transceivers and software maintenance, he said.
Chieh Chung (揭仲), a research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight, said the proposed extension might seem expensive, but with the Leshan system turning 10 next year, a mid-life upgrade or the procurement of replacement parts is in order.
While the proposed arms sale does not include new weapons, it would narrow the gap between Taiwan and China regarding the number of precision-strike missiles, bolstering the nation’s defense capabilities, he said.
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