TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A senior military official revealed on Thursday (Dec. 16) that after repeated discussions with the U.S., Taiwan will carry out trial recertification of its Patriot missiles to see if the country can do it domestically in the future, instead of sending them biennially to the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
He pointed out that the U.S. will transfer the relevant technology to Taiwanese military units. A trial testing will be carried out in Taiwan next year for one year, he said, adding that if the procedure goes off without a hitch and is deemed feasible, the U.S. will not rule out Taiwan re-testing its Patriot missiles on its own in the future, the Liberty Times reported.
The Ministry of National Defense said the agreement signed by Taiwan and the U.S. in April on the recertification of Taiwan's Patriot missiles lists the East Asian country as the location of the trials. Previous contracts have always designated the U.S. as the test site.
Each batch consists of 48 Patriot missiles and will take about seven to eight months to be decertified, with the procedure scheduled to last from 2023-2030. The total cost is estimated to be NT$16.42 billion (US$590.35 million).
Taiwan's military has approximately 400 Patriot missiles. The first recertification agreement was signed in 2006, per the Liberty Times.