The Republic of China navy has made a major breakthrough in the development of an absorbent paint that can provide stealth capabilities to its weapons platforms, local media reported yesterday.
The radar-absorbing material, which reports said has been in development for a number of years, was recently tested on a 57-tonne Hai Ou (“Seagull”)-class fast attack boat, which has no stealth features, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported.
Two Seagulls, the No. 53 and No. 59, were deployed during the test. The No. 53, whose hull, machine guns, missiles and cabin were coated with the absorbent material, remained invisible to radar, while the No. 59, which was used as a control and did not receive the coating, was easily detected.
Only after the No. 53 came within sight did the radar finally detect it, reports said.
The stealth coating has resulted in a halving of the distance at which a vessel remains invisible to radar, reports said.
The test with the two Seagulls reportedly involved both land-based radar and radar on board a ship at sea that was approached by the two attack boats. When the two Seagulls closed in on the ship, the control vessel was picked up by radar from a distance of 10km, while the No. 53, with the coating, was only detected after it had come within viewing distance.
When the two boats sailed away from the ship and could barely be observed by the naked eye, the No. 53 was no longer picked up by radar, while the control was still clearly visible, even at a distance exceeding 10km.
Unconfirmed reports within the navy also claim that during a test at night, an observer vessel was unable to pick up the No. 53 by radar at a distance of 730m.
Although Navy Command confirmed it had tested the coating on the Seagulls, it would not comment further on the tests.
It is not known whether the stealth coating would be used in the navy’s fleet of locally manufactured 170-tonne Kuang Hua VI (“Glorious China”)-class missile boats, whose design and shape already give it stealth capabilities.
Ten Kuang Hua-class vessels entered service in May last year. Another 20 are to be delivered by China Shipbuilding Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) to the navy by next February, bringing the fleet to 30.
The Kuang Hua VI, which come armed with four Hsiung Feng II (“Brave Wind”) ship-to-ship missiles developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST, 中山科學研究院), is intended to replace about 30 of the Israeli-designed Seagulls after the almost 20-year-old vessels are retired at the end of this year.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS