Taiwan punish navy officers over the procurement of Phalanx CIWS

Four flag officers with the Republic of China Navy were given warnings as punishment for going ahead to buy the Phalanx Block-1B close-in weapon systems (CIWS) before the budget was approve by lawmakers.

By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Edward Vasquez [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

They had sought and receive approval by Ministry of National Defense but the move was condemned by lawmakers. They wanted to save money as the Pentagon was willing to sell the entire FMS package at a price of $278.33 million if the deal was signed before Jul. 22.