The navy's two Dutch-made submarines have been using the MK48 torpedo, the most powerful class of torpedo in service with US submarines, for nearly a decade, according to defense sources.
The deployment of the MK48 Mod3 torpedo on the Sea Dragon submarines used to be a top secret in the navy. But its existence in Taiwan's navy has been widely suspected since the US announced two years ago it was willing to sell the MK48 Mod4 torpedo to Taiwan.
The announcement was considered the equivalent to confirming the use of an earlier version of the MK48 in Taiwan's navy since other foreign users of the MK48, such as Australia, Canada and Israel, all started with the Mod3 type.
The Mod4 is regarded as the second-best kind of MK48 torpedo in service with the US navy.
It is not known when the MK48 Mod4 torpedo is to be delivered to Taiwan. But before its delivery, the navy can still count on the Mod3 to counter the threat from the Chinese navy.
A defense source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the MK48 Mod3 torpedo is enough to sink a Lafayette or Chengkung-class frigate. "Only two Mod3s would be needed to destroy a Sovremenny-class destroyer of the Chinese navy," the source said. "The torpedo has such a large destructive power that neither the surface nor underwater vessels of the Chinese navy dare challenge the two Dutch-made Sea Dragon-class submarines of our navy.
"Our navy capitalized on the Chinese navy's fear of the Sea Dragon submarines to move very close to China's southeastern coastline during the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis," he said, referring to China's firing of missiles with dummy warheads into the shipping lanes near Taiwan before the presidential election of that year.
"Amphibious assault teams were then ready to raid the Chinese coastline using the submarines as the platform," the source said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS