A small number of the newly developed Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles have already been deployed around the nation, and up to 100 of the missiles will be manufactured within the next eight years, military sources said.
The missiles will be deployed in Taiwan proper as well as on its outlying islands, they said.
The locally developed Hsiung Feng II-E has a range of up to 1,000km and can be launched from land, sea or air. The range depends upon the type of engine used.
The missile had been slated to be a part of this year's National Day military display, but was pulled from the display after the US expressed strong concern.
Sources said that future production of the Hsiung Feng would be divided into two phases. The first phase will utilize turbo jet engines, giving the missiles a range of about 500km, although these missiles will be referred to by the military as belonging to the 600km class.
The second stage of the project will utilize more efficient turbo fan engines being developed by the Ministry of National Defense-affiliated Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology. In addition to increasing the range of the missiles, the engine is also expected to increase their accuracy.
However, the sources said that the whole Hsiung Feng mass production project could be put in jeopardy if the institute failed to develop a suitable turbo fan engine.
They said that while many key components needed for weapons production originate from the US, the number of components approved for export by Washington has dwindled in the past six months.
This has affected the nation's Hsiung Feng II, Hsiung Feng III and Hsiung Feng II-E missiles, as well as other advanced weapons, they said.
The Chungshan Institute is seeking to remedy the situation by working on developing weapons components domestically as well as seeking non-US sources of components from abroad, sources said.
Researchers have so far been cautiously optimistic, but it remains to be seen whether or not US components can be successfully replaced, the sources said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS