WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Taiwan has taken delivery of the last two of four Kidd-class destroyers built in the United States.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported Friday that the Chinese language Liberty Times reported from Taipei that the Tsoying and Makung destroyers sailed Saturday from the United States for Taiwan, a military source speaking on condition of anonymity, told DPA.
The destroyers pose logistical problems for the Taiwanese Navy. The Kidd-class destroyers are the largest warships in the Taiwan Navy, but because Taiwan does not have large wharves the ships must return to the United States for repairs.
The destroyers are part of an $18.2 billion arms sales package approved in 2001 by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Besides the destroyers the arms deal includes six PAC-3 anti-missile systems, eight diesel submarines and 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft.
Taiwan took delivery of the first two Kidd-class destroyers last December.
The 9,600-ton Kidd-class destroyer has a top speed of 32 nautical miles per hour. The aerial defense ships are equipped with radar with a 250-mile search range; its anti-aircraft missiles have a range of 93 miles.
Taiwan's defenses are threatened by China, which has 50 submarines, including eight Russian-made diesel-electric boats to Taiwan's four.
On Aug. 23 Taiwan's internet newspaper ETToday.com reported that China had taken delivery of a fourth Sovremenny-class destroyer from Russia. It will pass through the Taiwan Strait soon.
Norway's Socialist Left Party, or SV, wants to rent Swedish fighter jets and cooperate with its Scandinavian neighbors on shared air space.
SV, a junior member of the three-party majority governing coalition led by Labor, sees the idea as a way of jettisoning a costly and difficult project of finding a supplier of fighters.
The Oslo newspaper Aftenposten reported Friday that in 2008 Norway's parliament will decide on whether to purchase 48 new fighter jets at a price of more than $4.78 billion. Four jet producers are competing to provide fighters to Norway, including the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, built by a U.S. aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin in conjunction with BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman.
SV defense policy spokesman Bjorn Jacobsen said: "We are basically opposed to buying the fighter jets and believe that the first assessment we must take is whether we need them at all. Then we must look at the possibility of renting jets. The Swedes would like to rent us jets."
On the subject of a common Nordic air space command Jacobsen said "we know that each country cannot have all the capacity in all areas."
Since May, U.S. Ambassador Benson K. Whitney has pressed Norway to buy U.S. Joint Strike Fighters, saying a failure to do so would weaken military cooperation between the two nations. Whitney told a forum: "Norway's continued participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program would maximize our continued ability to work together globally. I hope that going forward with this decision will be seen as not just an economic issue, but also one of critical strategic importance."
Defense Ministry spokesman Espen Barth Eide said: "No matter what type of fighter jet we decide to buy, it will be NATO-compatible. If we end up buying fighter jets other than the JSF, it doesn't mean we're turning our back on the U.S."
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program plans to build three versions of the same single-engine stealth fighter for the U.S. Air Force and eight allied nations. As the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is a multi-billion dollar program, it critical for the U.S. defense industry to sell as many fighters to allies as possible.
U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will meet in Washington on Sept. 14.
A South Korean government official speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Seoul newspaper Chosun Ilbo that Bush and Roh would subsequently issue a joint statement including an agreement on South Korea eventually exercising sole wartime control of its troops.
Chosun Ilbo reported Aug. 25 that the two presidents would also take the opportunity to comment on the "continuing strength" of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Another South Korean government official, speaking anonymously, told the newspaper that since Bush had agreed to the idea of ceding wartime military control, "there is a strong possibility that the two will confirm the principles" for the handover ahead of the Security Consultative Meeting that will produce a "road map" in Washington the following month.
Under the terms of the agreement the South Korean government will gain autonomy, while the Bush administration will be able to continue its global troop realignment, "strategic flexibility" allowing troops currently deployed in South Korea to be shifted elsewhere.
Bush told U.S. field commanders at a recent Pentagon meeting chaired by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the United States should assist South Korea in every way possible.
A high-ranking South Korean military official speaking on condition of anonymity said Bush on Aug. 14 "was briefed of the plan to hand over wartime operational control to Korea by the Defense Department and said, 'Let things go as Korea requests. Give our utmost support to the plan.'"
According to a South Korean military officers familiar with the discussions, Bush said, "I agree" when Rumsfeld and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Burwell Bell briefed him that South Korea's military forces had the necessary capability to exercise sole wartime operational control, the newspaper report said.
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