TAIPEI, – It’s as much as america to resolve what to do with Taiwan’s decommissioned HAWK anti-aircraft missiles, the island’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo stated on Wednesday, when requested if they’d be transferred to Ukraine.
The US and its allies have offered billions of {dollars} of weapons to Ukraine since Russia attacked the nation two years in the past in what Moscow calls a “particular army operation”.
That has included weapons being phased out by some Western nations, like F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands.
Koo, talking to reporter at parliament and responding to a query on whether or not Taiwan’s decades-old HAWK missiles may go to Ukraine, stated Taiwan not wanted the weapons and their decommissioning was being dealt with in accordance with rules.
“If the U.S. aspect requests that we switch them again to them, we are going to accomplish that in accordance with the related rules and return them to america, after which america will resolve what to do with them,” he stated, with out elaborating.
Taiwan has provided robust ethical assist to Ukraine because the invasion, seeing parallels with the menace Taipei says it faces from its big neighbour China, which claims the democratically ruled island as its personal territory.
However Taiwan has not made any public bulletins about immediately sending weapons to Ukraine.
Taiwan is within the technique of upgrading its personal missile defences, together with a cope with america introduced final month value nearly $2 billion for Nationwide Superior Floor-to-Air Missile System medium-range air defence options that features the superior AMRAAM Prolonged Vary floor to air missiles.
The NASAMS system has been battle examined in Ukraine and represents a major improve in air defence capabilities that america is exporting to Taiwan as demand for the system surges.
The Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK system – a contrived acronym for Homing All of the Manner Killer – was designed within the depths of the Chilly Warfare to shoot down enemy bombers. It was refined and upgraded within the many years since then, together with variants by person international locations comparable to Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, in line with U.S. army paperwork.
Though the U.S. army not makes use of it, and the HAWK is taken into account much less succesful than extra fashionable air defence methods, the newest variants are able to hitting targets at altitudes as little as 60 metres – a helpful trait in opposition to the barrages of small, gradual one-way assault drones Ukraine has confronted.
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