Three U.S.-made Patriot antimissile air defense batteries will be deployed in southern Taiwan, in addition to the one already in northern Taiwan, Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Yang said Thursday.

Responding to lawmakers' questions in the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee, Yang said the three Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile batteries will be used to boost the country's defense capability.

The PAC-3 missile batteries, part of a US$6.4 billion arms package supplied by the United States in recent years, will be deployed in southern Taiwan, he said.

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Meanwhile, Ting Chung-wu, chief of staff at the Air Force Command, said in response to a lawmaker's questions that none of Taiwan's 145 F-16 A/B fighters have been upgraded under a US$3.8 billion program to retrofit the country's aging fighter fleet in the U.S.

On the issue of Taiwan's recent military exercises, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Hsu Pei-shan said the defense ministry has identified five navy officers who will be held responsible for a glitch in the Han Kuang live drills in the offshore county of Penghu. He however did not disclose the names of the officers.

The incident occurred when the 76mm gun on a Chingchiang-class patrol vessel failed just before it was scheduled to begin firing during an anti-landing drill in Penghu on April 17.

The ministry concluded in a report that since the problem was recorded on the same vessel two days prior to the live-fire exercise, the relevant personnel should be held responsible for the gun's failure during the drill.

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In related news, the Navy confirmed late Wednesday that an officer from a Chengkung-class frigate that was involved in the Hang Kuang exercise had engaged in gambling with his subordinates on board another vessel that was taking them back to Kaohsiung on April 19 after the drill.

Yang apologized Thursday in the committee over the incident and said Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu has already ordered an investigation into the matter and severe punishment will be handed down to the officer, Yang said.

The gambling incident was first reported in the Chinese-language Apple Daily.

Patriot missiles to be deployed along Jordan-Syria border

US to relocate two batteries from Qatar and Kuwait in order to protect Hashemite Kingdom, source claims

US Army officials have agreed to deploy two Patriot missile batteries along the Jordan-Syria border, London-based paper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Friday.

According to the report, the decision came after Jordanian officials requested that the US assist in protecting and securing the kingdom’s borders.

 Citing a Jordanian source, the report also claimed that the two Patriot missile batteries will be transferred from Qatar and Kuwait.

Earlier this year, several Patriot batteries were redeployed along the Turkey-Syria border after Ankara requested protection from stray mortar shells.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel notified Congress that the Pentagon would send about 200 soldiers from an Army headquarters unit to Jordan. Hagel explained that the troops will assist efforts to contain violence along the Syrian border and plan for any operations needed to ensure the containment of chemical weapons.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammed Momani confirmed that they would receive the 200 American troops.

“They will be here to bolster our training and defense capabilities in light of the deterioration in Syria,” Momani told The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Iran, Turkey ties tense on Patriot plan

Planned deployment of U.S.-made Patriot missiles in Turkey is a “provocative” action which could bring about “uncalculated” results, Iran’s foreign minister said on Dec. 16, soon after Iranian President canceled a visit to Turkey.

  “The deployment of Patriot missiles will achieve nothing but to provoke and, God forbid, result in being forced into an uncalculated action,” Ali Akbar Salehi said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency. “Their deployment will be more provocative rather than deterrent,” he said and warning that the Patriot missiles would not “help regional security.” At the request of Turkey, NATO has agreed to provide six Patriot missiles to bolster its member’s border defences amid tensions with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Salehi’s comments came a day after Iran’s top general issued a stern warning to Ankara over its planned hosting of the missile batteries, saying it was part of a Western plot to “create a world war.” “The Patriot [missiles] are threatening. Each one of them is a black dot on the map, [setting the stage] to create a world war,” said General Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff.

 “This is very dangerous for everyone, and even for the future of Europe,” he said. After Firouzabadi’s remarks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a scheduled trip to Turkey.

 “His cancellation is because an unexpected event appeared in his program, we have been told by Iranians,” a Turkish diplomatic source said on Dec. 16.

Turkey to ask NATO for missiles on Syria border

Turkey will formally ask NATO on Monday to set up missiles on its border with Syria due to growing concern about spillover from a 20-month-old civil war in its neighbor, a German newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which did not cite its sources, also said that up to 170 German soldiers could be deployed as part of the mission.

Turkey said on Friday it had intensified talks with NATO allies on how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) frontier with Syria after mortar rounds fired from Syria landed inside its territory.

"As we have said before, there have been talks between Turkey and NATO and NATO allies on various issues regarding the security risks and challenges and possible responses to issues regarding Turkey-NATO territories," a Turkish government official said, when asked about the Sueddeutsche Zeitung report.

"Normally we could not reveal the nature of NATO deliberations while they continue," added the official.

NATO has said it will do what it takes to protect and defend Turkey. Turkey has said it is talking to its NATO allies about a possible deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles.

A NATO spokeswoman said she could not confirm the report. "There hasn't been a request from Turkey. If there is a request from Turkey of course allies will consider it," she said.

NATO ambassadors would have to consider any request from Turkey and they have a regular weekly meeting next Wednesday but they could call a special one at any time. European Union defense and foreign ministers will be in Brussels on Monday for meetings.

For Germany, deploying troops abroad is a sensitive subject, even more than 65 years after the end of World War Two. It is unclear if such a mission would require the approval of the Bundestag lower house.

A spokesman for Germany's defense ministry also said NATO would consider any request from Turkey and confirmed that the United States, the Netherlands and Germany were the countries that had the appropriate Patriot missiles available.

"If NATO were to ask Germany, we would consider that and bear in mind our duties in the alliance," said the spokesman.

China Stalls American Weapons For Taiwan

The U.S. has agreed to ship back Pac 2 Patriot anti-aircraft missiles Taiwan sent to the United States for upgrades in 2008. These were to have been sent back in 2009 but were delayed for three years by, well, no one will admit exactly what the reason was. Might have had something to do with China pressuring the United States to not send weapons to Taiwan.

Taiwan has been trying to upgrade its Patriot anti-missile systems for a decade, but the U.S. support for this effort has been somewhat half-hearted. Last year Taiwan received its first Configuration-3 radars for its Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. This upgrade enables Patriot to fire Pac-3 anti-missile missiles. The PAC 3 is smaller than the anti-aircraft version (PAC 2), thus a Patriot launcher can hold sixteen PAC 3 missiles, versus four PAC 2s. A PAC 2 missile weighs about a ton, a PAC 3 weighs about a third of that. The PAC 3 has a shorter range (about 20 kilometers) versus 70 kilometers for the anti-aircraft version.

Three years ago, despite vague Chinese promises that it might remove some of the thousand ballistic missiles aimed at it (which never happened), Taiwan signed a $154 million contract with a U.S. firm to upgrade the island nation's Patriot missile systems. These hardware and software changes will make the Taiwanese Patriot batteries equal in performance to those used by the U.S. Army. That is, the Taiwanese Patriot systems will be able to fire the PAC-3 anti-missile missile, and also station the Patriot launchers many kilometers from the system radars. Taiwan has also ordered hundreds of PAC-3 missiles. Meanwhile, China now has 1,600 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan.

Increasingly anxious about China's military buildup, Taiwan has been increasing its defense spending. China still spends over five times as much on defense, to support about two million troops. Taiwan has only 350,000 troops, and a population of 23 million, compared to 1.3 billion on the mainland. Taiwan's GDP is less than six percent of Chinas. Thus the per capita income of Taiwan is more than three times that of the mainland. Taiwan's military is based on the American model, with an emphasis on quality. China based its military on the Soviet model (where quantity has a quality all its own), although for decades the emphasis was on mobilizing a huge force of guerillas. Now China is trying to develop a force that can fight on Western terms (high tech gear operated by well-trained troops.)

While many Taiwanese still see the United States as the ultimate guarantor of Taiwanese independence, they see China as increasingly capable of grabbing the island before the U.S. can intervene. So while the Taiwanese don't have to be strong enough to defeat a Chinese invasion, they do have to be strong enough to hold the Chinese back until American reinforcements can show up.

US plans to sell $4.2-b Patriot missiles to Kuwait

The Pentagon has said it planned to sell 60 Patriot missiles to Kuwait in a deal worth an estimated $4.2 billion, as the emirate tries to bolster its defences against the threat from Iran.

The Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which is in charge of US weapon sales to foreign countries, notified the US Congress of the intended sale on July 20, the agency said in a statement on its Website yesterday.

Congress has 30 days to raise any objections it may have. If nothing is said, the contract is deemed valid after that waiting period.

The deal involves the sale of 60 Patriot advanced capability (PAC-3) missiles, 20 launching stations, four radar systems and control stations, personnel training and training equipment, and spare parts, the DSCA said.

“Kuwait will use the PAC-3 missiles and equipment to improve its missile defence capability, strengthen its homeland defence, and deter regional threats,” the agency said.

Earlier this year at a forum that brought together the United States and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, promoted a missile shield to protect Gulf Arab states from Tehran.

The six GCC states are all major buyers of US arms.

Kuwait already has Patriot missiles. In 1992, it bought 210 of the earlier-generation Patriots, and 25 launchers. It then bought 140 more in 2007, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Keywords: Pentagon, Patriot missiles, Kuwait, Defence Security Cooperation Agency, Patriot advanced capability missiles, PAC-3 missiles,