The US State Department has approved the potential sale of Patriot Missile Systems
related equipment to Taiwan. The deal is worth $95m.
The Pentagon said in a notification to Congress, that the approval covers the training,
planning, fielding, deployment, operation, maintenance and sustainment of the Patriot
Air Defense System and associated equipment, “This proposed sale serves US national,
economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing
efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability”
It added, “The proposed sale will help to sustain the recipient’s
missile density and ensure readiness for air operations. The recipient will use
this capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen homeland defense.”
China stated it ‘Strongly Opposes’ the move.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why China is so irked by the U.S.'s Patriot Air Defense
System deal with Taiwan? Let's get started.
China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and long called for reunification.
It doesn't recognize the international sovereignty of Taiwan and refers to
all actions toward the island as internal affairs.
The Chinese defense ministry statement stated, “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.”
China has time and again threatened Taiwan with aerial incursion and naval transits.
The relationship between Taiwan and United States is unofficial and informal and is
governed by the Taiwan Relations Act. The Taiwan Relations Act is designed
to maintain ambiguity and does not state if the USA will or will not
intervene militarily if China attacks or invades Taiwan.
Under the act, the U.S is obligated to sell “arms of a defensive character” to Taiwan.
The American Patriot Air Defense System is an all-weather tactical mobile air defense system.
It is manufactured by defense contractor Raytheon and entered service in 1981. It has seen many
upgrades since then and the capability has improved a lot since the initial variant.
The system has the ability to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles,
drones as a well as different types of aircraft.
Patriot systems have been sold to many countries like Taiwan,
the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait to name a few.
The Patriot system is expected to remain in service until at least 2040.
The latest variant of the Patriot is the Pac 3.
The Patriot Pac 3 uses a passive electronically scanned array radar. It is equipped with IFF
(Identification friend or foe) and an electronic counter-countermeasure to resist jamming.
The radar has a range of around 160 km or 100 miles.
Patriot Pac 3 introduced the new MIM-104F missile, which is also referred to as the PAC-3 missile.
It has reduced size compared to previous Patriot missiles and is more maneuverable.
The Patriot missile uses a Track-via-Missile (TVM) guidance system. After the missile is launched,
mid-course guidance is provided by the mobile control center
which uses the radar to direct the missile towards the target.
In the terminal phase, the Ka-band active radar seeker in the nose of the PAC-3 missile
acquires the inbound threat. This radar selects the radar return most likely to
be the warhead of the incoming missile and directs the interceptor towards it.
The missile uses a 'hit to kill' strategy though it has a small high fragmentation warhead
to enhance the kill probability. The warhead is also known as 'Lethality Enhancer’ has 24 tungsten
fragments that are launched in a radial direction increasing the probability of interception.
Two missiles are launched 4.2 seconds apart in a "ripple". The second missile locates
any debris which may be a warhead and attacks in a similar manner.
For aerial targets, like aircraft & drones, the Patriot MIM-104F missile
has an engagement range of 160 km or 100 miles whereas for ballistic missiles.
It has a range of about 30 km or around 18.5 miles.
The deployment time for Patriot is 30 min.
Taiwan’s presidential office noted this was the third arms sale announced since
President Joe Biden took office and showed the “rock solid” nature of their relationship.
Spokesperson Xavier Chang said in a statement,
“Taiwan will continue to demonstrate its determination to defend itself, and continue
to deepen cooperative partnerships with the United States and other like-minded countries”
Although the US has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is bound by law
to provide the island with the means to defend itself and is Taiwan’s main source of weapons.
It has provided key weapons like F-16 fighter jets and is in the process of supplying 108
M1A2 Abrams tanks.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it expected the deal to “become effective” within the month.
The Patriot is a system that is designed to provide
medium-range air and missile defense over a small area. It can be termed as a point
defense system and is suited to provide protection to vital sites like airbases.
It would play a vital role in defending Taiwan, in case China decides to invade the island nation.
The Patriot system could extract a huge toll on Chinese aerial assets.