29 October 2012

News Story: Taiwan mulling domestic maintenance of its Patriot missiles

Patriot Missile (Wiki Info - Image Wiki Commons)

Taiwan's defense ministry said Wednesday it will gradually reduce dependence on the United States for the maintenance of the country's Patriot missiles in order to cut costs and improve efficiency in that area.

Taiwan will gradually move toward domestic maintenance of Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missiles, as was done with the Hawk missile components, defense minister Kao Hua-chu said at a legislative hearing on the country's defense budget.

He said that since the 9-11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001, the country has strengthened its homeland security, which makes it troublesome to ship weapons back to Taiwan after maintenance.

Read the full story at Want China Times