The navy regained its self-confidence yesterday after a successful torpedo test.
The success came after the navy failed to hit a target in the Sept. 4 Hankuang No. 19 exercise.
The first of two torpedoes fired yesterday developed similar problems as the one in the Hankuang, or Han Glory, exercise and failed to hit its target.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But a second try yesterday worked, marking the first success the navy has had in two decades in firing a live torpedo from a submarine.
The torpedo tests were held at a beach in Chialutang, Pingtung County.
The result cheered up navy commander-in-chief Admiral Miao Yung-ching (
"It has helped us regain self-confidence," Miao said in a brief speech after the torpedo tests. "It will also make the public have confidence in us again."
"Despite the success, we will seek to find out what caused the other tests to fail to ensure that no mistakes of the same kind are made again," Miao said.
Yesterday's tests were intended to make up for the navy's failures in the Hankuang exercise, which included a live submarine-launched torpedo and a land-based Chaparral air defense missile. The Chaparral is used by the marine corps.
It was President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) idea that the navy and other armed services launch more tests of weapons systems that developed problems in the Hankuang exercise until they were able to hit the target without fault.
Torpedoes were not the only weapons put to the test in yesterday's live-fire drills.
The Mica air-to-air missile and the Chaparral missile were also tested. Both hit their targets.
The Mica was not launched during the Hankuang exercise because its intended target was mistakenly shot down by a Standard SM-1 missile fired from a Chengkung-class frigate.
The Chaparral was off the mark in the Hankuang exercise.
After the Mica and Chaparral passed the tests, the navy's heavyweight SUT torpedo became the center of attention. The navy had been preparing for the SUT test for several weeks. The navy had fired another live torpedo in a rehearsal on Oct. 8. The test was successful, but could not be officially counted.
The training drills yesterday were supposed to have been completed by noon, but were extended after the first SUT torpedo went out of control.
Initial probes by the navy showed that the wire guiding the torpedo broke during the homing process, a situation similar to what happened in the Hankuang exercise.
The navy said the torpedo sank to the bottom of the sea about 53 minutes after it lost contact with the submarine.
The sea where the torpedo test was held was up to 1,571m deep, the navy said.
"After its batteries run out, the torpedo will sink to the seabed," it said.
A second torpedo test took place at 2:20pm. Six minutes later, the torpedo hit a decommissioned Yang-class destroyer, about 60 nautical miles off the coast.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS