Military experts suggested that offensive weapons might best improve the nation's deterrent force, as the Ministry of National Defense (MND) seeks to make submarines a budget priority.
Lin Tsung-ta (
Liao Wen-chung (
He said Taiwan had successfully delivered the high-resolution Earth observation satellites FORMOSAT 1 and FORMOSAT 2 (also known as ROCSAT 1 and 2), and is scheduled to deliver FORMOSAT 3 this year.
But there are still technical hurdles to surmount if Taiwan wants to equip the newest satellite with SAR technology, he said.
Meanwhile, Lin questioned the effectiveness of Patriot missiles.
Lin said China currently had an arsenal of more than 700 short-range ballistic missiles on the coast opposite Taiwan. According to the "two plus two theory," a defender must simultaneously launch four missiles -- two Theater High-Altitude Area Defense missiles and two Patriots -- ?for each incoming missile in order to have a 95 percent probability of intercepting it. To achieve that success rate, Taiwan would therefore need nearly 3,000 missiles to effectively counter China's short-range ballistic missile threat.
However, Taiwan, the proposed purchase of 384 additional Patriot missiles would only bring Taiwan's total Patriot arsenal to 584.
Worse, said Lin, China has been developing mid-range ballistic missiles that can hit targets at speeds of more than Mach-10, but Patriot missiles cannot hit ballistic missiles traveling at more than Mach 6.
Most worrisome, Lin said, is China's improving cruise missile capabilities. China currently has more than 200 cruise missiles which can be launched from bases, fighter jets, ships or submarines with more accuracy than ballistic missiles. Patriot missile also cannot intercept such cruise missiles.
To minimize the impact of an intensive PLA missile attack, Taiwan needs to spread its air force and navy installations and equipment over a large number of small bases "because China can't to destroy one hundred bases in a short time," Lin said.
Since the legislature has blocked the NT$480 billion arms budget, the Defense Ministry has made the procurement of eight diesel-powered submarines and 12 P-3C sub-hunting aircraft its priorities.
Meanwhile, the ministry is mulling the transfer of the PAC-3 missile battery procurement to next year's annual military budget.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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