Delivery problems spark shortage of air-to-air missiles

Due to delivery delays, the army has acquired just 40 of 300 AIM-9S Sidewinder air-to-air missiles it ordered from the US in 1992, according to an army official.

The Sidewinders are for use with the army's 41 AH-1W attack helicopters.

But because of the delivery delays, the military currently has less than one Sidewinder for each helicopter.

The army official didn't say why delivery of the missiles has been so slow. "We need an explanation from the US, too," he said. "We've already paid the money."

The army ordered the 300 Sidewinders with its purchase of 42 AH-1Ws in 1992. Delivery of the 42 helicopters was completed long ago, but the full order of missiles has yet to arrive.

One of the helicopters was lost in a crash in 1999.

Now that the army is taking periodic delivery of another 26 AH-1Ws ordered from the US in 1997, its stock of Sidewinders is all the more inadequate.

The shortage of Sidewinders is one of the reasons why the army put on hold its first test-firing of the missile from an AH-1W until this year, the army official said.

The test-firing took place in April at the military's main missile test site in Chiupeng township, Pingtung County.

It was made public by the army in August as the press visited the base of an airborne brigade in Taichung.

Only one missile was fired in the test, which the army described as a success. The army's official explanation for the missile test being held so late and on such a small scale was that it did not have enough funds to conduct more tests.

Chang Li-teh (張立德), a senior editor with the Defense Technology Monthly magazine, said the army shouldn't have bought the Sidewinders since they aren't reliable weapons.

"The infrared-homing AIM-9S can be easily fooled by decoys such as flare bombs fired from an enemy aircraft," Chang said.

"It's ironic that during its first test-firing of the AIM-9S, the army used a flare bomb as the target for the missile. The army should have known the results could not be trusted since the AIM-9S cannot easily distinguish between a decoy and a real target," he said.

The army could have bought the domestically-built Tien Chien I (Sky Sword I) air-to-air missile, instead of the AIM-9S, Chang said.

"The Tien Chien I could be installed on the AH-1W as well. The military-run Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which developed the missile, can solve problems that may arise when trying to install a weapon on a platform that was made in another country," he said.