One of the chief beneficiaries of the military build-up across the Taiwan Strait has been defense contractor Raytheon Corporation of Waltham, Massachusetts. Last week Raytheon announced a $1.1 billion dollar order from the Republic of China in-exile for an upgraded Patriot anti-missile system.
The Foreign Military Sales contract was authorized by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Production of the Patriot weapons will be in Massachusetts, Texas and Alabama.
Other weapons buys by Taiwan from U.S. contractors are under negotiation and a purchase of new Black Hawk helicopters is said to be in the final stages of approval.(Source: Examiner.com, Jan 1, 2010).