The navy has proposed building a helicopter carrier as part of its indigenous shipbuilding program to boost the nation’s marine-patrol capabilities.
The navy plans to build a Landing Helicopter Dock capable of carrying six large helicopters and traveling at 30 knots (55kph).
The 22,000 tonne, 220m-long carrier would be fitted with an OTO Melara 76mm gun, an air defense missile system, an active electronically scanned array radar and advanced sonar system, the navy said.
Photo: Lo Tien-pin, Taipei Times
The announcement of the proposal coincided with a naval indigenous shipbuilding exhibition that opens today on the AOE 532 Panshi, a combat-support ship that docked in Keelung Harbor yesterday.
It is the first public presentation of the project since the navy unexpectedly scrapped its helicopter carrier plans from a program unveiled during the Kaohsiung International Maritime and National Defense Exhibition last year.
However, the navy said the plan is yet to be formally included in its shipbuilding scheme pending government approval.
“The presentation shows the navy’s ‘vision’ for a helicopter carrier, but whether it becomes a reality depends on government evaluations,” the navy said.
The navy has also planned to build rapid minelayers, salvage vessels, next-generation frigates and combat ships, minesweepers, submarines, amphibious dock vessels, multi-functional transport ships and more Tuo Jiang-class corvettes.
The Panshi sailed into the harbor yesterday along with a Cheng Kung-class frigate and a Kang Ding-class frigate, and is to be open to the public today and tomorrow from 9am to 3pm.
However, only Taiwanese with national ID cards are allowed to board the ships.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of National Defense Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) rejected speculation that the government was planning to purchase a decommissioned Japanese submarine because the navy had difficulties building its first locally-designed submarine.
According to a Hong Kong media report, the ministry planned to purchase a retired Harushio-class or Oyashio-class diesel-electric submarine from Japan under the pretext of “importing scrap metal,” because the navy failed to secure the technology to build a submarine hull from the Netherlands, which built the navy’s two Chien Lung-class submarines, and other European countries.
“There is no such things and media speculation is incorrect,” Lee said.
The ministry was proceeding with the shipbuilding program, but much of the program is confidential and unsuitable for public discussion, he said.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS