With the assistance of computer software provided by the US, a new type of anti-ship missile which Taiwan is to buy from the US will be able to attack China's most important military assets along its southeast coast, defense sources said yesterday.
The targets include the strategic command of the Chinese air force, which is said to be located somewhere in a coastal province facing Taiwan. If the strategic command is under attack, China's air defense network will be seriously affected.
The weapon which Taiwan will be able to use against these targets is the RGM-84L Harpoon anti-ship missile, which the US government announced it would sell to Taiwan last year.
Though designed for use mainly against ships, the missile also has the capability to attack important land targets as long as the necessary software has been installed.
The software, which the US has agreed to provide to Taiwan, contains data about the terrain of China's coastal military facilities. It will enable the Harpoon missile to strike like a cruise missile.
Chang Li-teh (
"The ship which launches the missile will run the risk of being attacked by Chinese anti-ship missiles fired from ships or land bases," Chang said.
The sub-sonic missile has a range of around 120km, while the Taiwan Strait has a width of between 150km and 200km. "The weapon would be very useful against Third World countries with relatively weak defenses against such attacks. I doubt that China is in that category," Chang said.
A naval official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disagreed with Chang, saying that the navy knows how to protect itself while launching the Harpoon missile. He declined to elaborate.
The RGM-84L Harpoon missile sparked a controversy last year as some lawmakers with the defense committee of the legislature discovered while examining the defense budget proposal for 2001 that the navy had secretly prepared funds to buy the missile without informing the committee members.
The lawmakers were also enraged by the navy's plans to use the new missile to replace the domestically-built Hsiung Feng-II anti-ship missile installed on the Cheng Kung-class frigates. This led the navy to give up ground and promise not to proceed with the plans.
The navy's original scheme was to remove the Hsiung Feng-II missiles from the Cheng Kung-class frigates onto missile boats and to install the Harpoons on the frigates. The missile boats currently use Hsiung Feng-I anti-ship missiles, which have a shorter range and are less powerful than the Hsiung Feng-II.
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