The air force is to buy and deploy the air-launched version of the domestically developed Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missile if it passes tests to be held possibly late next year, the air force said yesterday.
Air force chief of staff Lieutenant General Shen Kuo-chen (
"The Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) is now working on the integration of the Hsiung Feng II missile within the IDF's systems. Test-firing of the missile from the IDF is scheduled to start in 2005, but if everything goes well, it could begin by the end of next year," Shen said.
"We will place orders for the missile if it passes live-fire tests and meets our combat requirements," he said.
Shen made the announcement yesterday during a meeting of the legislature's defense committee in response to a question over whether the air force was planning to buy the missile.
The CSIST, the developer of the Hsiung Feng II, has already successfully developed an air-launched version of the missile, which would pose a much greater threat to enemy ships than the sea-launched model.
A CSIST official said privately, however, that the institute needed increased financial support to keep the work going.
"We only have about a year to get the job done," the official said.
The air force's announcement of the test-firing of the Hsiung Feng II was therefore apparently aimed at winning support from legislators for an increase in funding for the CSIST's integration work.
Yesterday's meeting of the defense committee focused on screening the proposed defense budget for next year. During the meeting, legislators from all parties issued requests and made suggestions to the military with regard to the budget.
The committee should have completed its screening of the unclassified portion of the proposed defense budget yesterday, but conflict between two lawmakers ensured that this did not happen.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信), a senior member on the committee, suffered repeated verbal attacks from Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Yu Yueh-hsia (游月霞) as he chaired yesterday's session.
Yu accused Chen of unfairly exercising his authority as chairman, and twice tried to stop the meeting with tirades against Chen from the floor.
Yu used aggressive language against Chen, who largely maintained his composure. Yu offered no explanation for why she had made such a personal attack against him, merely stating that Chen was a hypocrite. The tension lasted from the morning until the afternoon, before the meeting closed with business unresolved.
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