Taiwan to get US Early Warning Radar

Reuters reports that Taiwan is finally getting the US early warning radar that the US had agree to sell Taipei in 2000.

The U.S. Defense Department said on Thursday it would supply Taiwan with key elements of a missile and air defense capability, a move aimed at defusing the threat from China.

Raytheon Co. won a U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $752 million to supply the Early Warning Surveillance Radar by September 2009, the Pentagon said.

In a move bound to anger Beijing, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, the system will let Taiwan's air force detect and track long- and short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, enemy aircraft and surface ships with "no doubt" reliability, said Raytheon, based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The system includes an ultra-high frequency "phased array" radar to be integrated with Taiwan-supplied beacons that identify aircraft as friends or foes as well as two missile warning centers, a Defense Department contract announcement said.