Most of the portable machine guns on board Taiwan's Lafayette-class frigates have become rusty and unusable due to their poor maintenance, defense sources told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Without the machine guns, the frigates are left susceptible to attack by pirates in dangerous areas such as the South China Sea or narrow straits in Asia.
The machine guns are part of the individual weapons for crew members. They are usually kept in storage rooms and will be mounted while the ship is passing through a dangerous area.
One of Taiwan's six Lafayette frigates, which were bought from France, is now cruising through the Pacific Ocean for port visits to diplomatic allies in the Pacific and Central and Southern Americas. It is not known whether it will sail through any known dangerous sea areas on the voyage.
Poor maintenance is the major factor causing most of the machine guns on the six Lafayette frigates to rust to an unusable extent, said a naval official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Frankly speaking, there has never been any regular maintenance for these machine guns. They have seldom if ever been used since entering service on the ships," the naval official said.
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"Crew members responsible for operating and maintaining these machine guns are usually conscripts. They do not seem to be competent for the job," Shih said.
"Besides poor maintenance, weapon systems on fighting ships are also much easier to get rusty than land-based ones. It is because of the sea water," he added.
Whatever the main cause may be, the rusty machine guns on the Lafayette frigates have become a big joke in the navy, the naval official said.
"Without the machine guns, the Lafayette crew can drive away pirates only by rifles and hand guns. Are they going to use anti-ship guns, of much bigger caliber, against pirates at close range?" the official asked.
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