Military flaunts early-warning planes

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 17, 2006. It reports that President Chen Shui-bian recently presided over the commissioning of the E2K planes at an air force base in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County. According to the military, the electronic equipment on the planes allows Taiwan to expand its radar surveillance of the 160-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait. The planes can simultaneously track 250 targets and guide fighter jets on interception missions.

The two new planes have now joined four E2T early-warning aircraft purchased from the United States in 1995.

The recent display in Pingtung also included U.S.-built F-16 and French-made Mirage 2000 fighter jets, and locally produced Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs).

The government has been keen to expand Taiwan's defense capabilities. It has been pushing for the purchase of a US$16 billion weapons package from the United States. The package includes submarines, amti-submarines and Patriot missiles. However, the political parties have been using their slim majority in the Legislature Yuan to block any discussion of the weapons deal for more than a year.