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Taiwan to procure air-defence, radar systems from US

By Sohini Mandal & Oishee Majumdar |

Taiwan will procure the NASAMS from the US to enhance its air-defence capabilities. (Kongsberg)

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has signed three contracts to acquire the Kongsberg/Raytheon National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and two mobile radars from the United States.

These contracts – with a combined worth of more than TWD24 billion (USD 724.8 million) – will enhance the air-defence and surveillance capabilities of the Republic of China (ROC) armed forces, Taiwan's state-owned Central News Agency (CNA) announced on 10 January.

CNA said that the NASAMS contract worth TWD10.3 billion will be implemented by February 2034. The first mobile radar, described by CNA as an “L-band radar”, will be acquired under a contract worth TWD6.4 billion, while the second mobile radar, described as a “non-L-band radar”, will be acquired under a contract worth TWD7.6 billion. The two radar contracts are expected to be implemented by March 2030.

It is very likely that the two mobile radars to be procured by the MND are the Lockheed Martin AN/TPS-77, and Northrop Grumman AN/TPS-78 long-range radar systems. In October 2024 the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the US Department of State has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of three NASAMSs, and an undisclosed number of the AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar systems to Taiwan.

NASAMS

According to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Artillery and Air Defence , NASAMS is a networked medium-range air-defence system comprising a command-and-control (C2) system called the ‘Fire Distribution Center', a AN/TPQ-36A search-and-track radar or AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel radar, a passive MSP 500 electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and missile canister launchers containing six interceptor missiles. NASAMS uses Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles-Extended Range (AMRAAM-ER), which has a range of 40 km.

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