Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against Chinese aircraft and missile attacks is expected to receive a shot in the arm following the scheduled completion next year of an upgrade program for its “Skyguard” short-range air defense system.
As part of the three-year, NT$3.08 billion (US$101.6 million) “Tian Wu 7” (天武7) air defense upgrade program launched in 2009, Taiwan’s air force has been converting the GDF-003 Oerlikon 35mm twin cannons that are part of the Skyguard Air Defense System to a GDF-006 configuration, which will use Advanced Hit Efficiency And Destruction (AHEAD) munitions to shoot down manned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles, air-to-ground missiles and other targets.
Each AHEAD round consists of a shell filled with 152 tungsten pellets with a small programmable charge timed to detonate several meters in front of the target, sending an expanding cone of pellets forward to destroy the incoming projectile.
According to this month’s edition of the Chinese-language Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine, the air force has 24 “Sky Sentinel” radar units and 50 Oerlikon 35mm twin cannons. Each barrel can fire 550 rounds per minute at an altitude of about 4km and within a range of 8.5km.
The air force created 24 “Skyguard” artillery units in the 1980s, mostly to provide protection at its airports. With assistance from the US in 1975, the pedestal-mounted “Skyguard” system was also equipped with two pods, each with four AIM-7 “Sparrow” surface-to-air missiles, mounted on the back of a High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle.
Developments in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force and China’s growing arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles have made it evident that Taiwan’s current air defense capabilities have become insufficient, analysts say.
Based on various estimates, China is targeting between 1,500 and 1,700 short and medium-range ballistic missiles at Taiwan, as well as a number of cruise missiles.
A budget report by the legislature says the “Tian Wu 7” upgrade is scheduled for completion next year. The program also includes display and software upgrades for the “Sky Sentinel” fire control units.
Swiss manufacturer Oerlikon was renamed Rheinmetall Air Defence AG following the merger with German automotive and defense firm Rheinmetall in 2009.
Taiwan’s multilayer national air defense relies on a variety of systems, including the US-made PAC-2 and PAC-3 Patriot air defense systems, Hawk missiles, the Antelope, as well as the Tien Kung I and II “Sky Bow” missiles produced by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.
Military analysts generally agree that the opening phase of a Chinese attack against Taiwan would involve missile salvos against command-and-control centers, as well as airstrips and airbases to wipe out Taiwan’s ability to control the airspace in the Taiwan Strait — a key factor in determining the outcome of hostilities. As long-range defense systems could be overwhelmed by large numbers of incoming targets, second and third-line defenses, such as the “Skyguard,” are necessary components.
In recent years the PLA has developed and begun deploying missile warheads equipped with several sub-munitions specifically designed to render runways inoperable.
Contacted for comment on the upgrade, Rick Fisher, a defense specialist at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington said switching to AHEAD rounds was “a critical improvement for Taiwan’s anti-aircraft defenses.”
“The AHEAD round is capable of defeating not just aircraft, but a range of missiles and precision guided munitions (PGMs) as well,” he told the Taipei Times.
“The AHEAD round is now the best system in Taiwan for providing point defense against air-launched precision guided missiles and bombs. You need a large number of 35mm guns, but the AHEAD system can still be considered an ‘asymmetrical’ response to the PLA’s mounting superiority in PGMs,” Fisher said.
While an AHEAD round is much more expensive than a regular 35mm round, it is still far less expensive than a PGM, he said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS