The Ministry of National Defense rebutted a report Sunday that the data link interface of the PAVE Phased Array Warning System (PAVE PAWS) Taiwan received from the United States in 2013 has yet to be integrated with crucial two missile warning centers.

The radar warning system and the two missile warning centers in Taipei and Hualien County, respectively, have all begun operations and “are running smoothly,” said ministry spokesman Luo Shou-he (羅紹和).

“It is not true to say that the two systems cannot operate normally,” Luo said, but he declined to reveal any further details related to the facilities, which he said are military secrets related to national security.

Luo was responding to a United Evening News report on Sunday that said the PAVE PAW radar system, installed at the Leshan (樂山) military base in a remote mountain area in Hsinchu County, and the missile centers had yet to be connected.

The two sets of warning systems still rely on voice communications to be linked together, the report said, citing an unnamed lawmaker.

According to the report, the radar system — a key part of Taiwan’s anti-missile capabilities — is meant to detect oncoming missiles and then send their coordinates to the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system and other missile systems, such as the Sky Bow, through the missile warning centers in Taipei and Hualien.

The problem needed to be resolved jointly by Taiwan and the U.S., the lawmaker was cited as saying in the report.

focustaiwan.tw