TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan and the United States have signed a NT$15.76 billion (US$506.27 million) deal to maintain long-range early-warning radar systems, reports said Wednesday (Nov. 16).
The agreement, valid for five years and two months, covers radars posted in the mountains of northern Taiwan, the Liberty Times reported. The fixed installations can track targets effectively at a maximum distance of at least 3,000 kilometers away, as far as northeast Asia, inland China, and Vietnam. The systems came online in Feb. 2013 at a cost of NT$40.9 billion.
According to the Liberty Times, Taiwan has to pay a considerable sum of money to the U.S. each year to keep the radars operational, while U.S. staff has been stationed in Taiwan to conduct maintenance work. When China fired missiles around and over Taiwan in space last August, the systems did their work to track them, the report said.
Two previous maintenance contracts covered the period 2012-2017 at a cost of NT$11.07 billion and 2018-2022 for NT$11.04 billion. Since the latter contract ended in June, talks started on a third phase, with officials from both sides signing the new deal on Nov. 2 for a period valid until Dec. 31, 2027.