The Ministry of National Defense yesterday refused to comment on a report in the Chinese Communist Party-run Guangming Daily saying that the Kuang Hua VI (KH-6) fast attack missile boats that have been in service in the Taiwanese navy since 2010 were plagued by deficiencies and were a “fantasy.”
Taiwan commissioned its first squadron of 11 KH-6 radar-evading fast-attack craft, produced by China Shipbuilding Corp, in May 2010. Since then, 20 more of the 170-tonne boats have entered service, the most recent 10 on Dec. 2 last year at Tsuoying Naval Base in Greater Kaohsiung.
The 31 boats comprise the navy’s three squadrons, which have been dubbed Hai Chiao (Sea Sharks).
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
Each boat, which costs about US$12.3 million, comes equipped with four Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles with a range of 150km, as well as a 20mm anti-aircraft gun, a 7.62mm machine gun and decoy systems.
The KH-6s, which have gradually been replacing the Navy’s Israeli-made Hai Ou (Sea Gull)-class missile patrol boats, are integral to the defense of Taiwan’s waters. Given the narrowness of the Taiwan Strait, the boats would be able to attack targets at naval bases along China’s coast.
Some naval experts, including James Holmes of the US Naval War College, have hailed the capabilities of fast-attack craft as a potentially efficient asymmetrical counter to the growing Chinese military.
The Hsiung Feng III, currently under development by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, is also a main component of Taiwan’s emerging sea defenses.
However, the Guangming Daily on Tuesday claimed that the program was beset with problems and called the Sea Sharks a “fantasy.” At issue, the paper said, was the fact that the guns on the KH-6 needed to be operated manually, which undermined the craft’s “stealth” capability.
The article also said the craft was ill-suited for the rough weather conditions in the Taiwan Strait, pointing to an incident involving a prototype that lost power and became stranded on an outer seawall during Typhoon Jangmi in September 2008.
In all, the paper said, those deficiencies imposed “several restrictions” on the boats’ use.
Contacted by the Taipei Times yesterday, Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Colonel David Lo (羅紹和) said the ministry would not comment on Chinese media reports on Taiwan’s weapons systems.
Asked for comment, Holmes said the navy probably had corrected any deficiencies that lend themselves to easy fixes, such as clutter on the main deck.
“The point about handling well in heavy weather or at sea, however, is not something so easily corrected,” he said via e-mail. “The vessel is top-heavy because of its tall superstructure, which raises its ‘center of buoyancy’ and makes it bob around like a cork in high seas. That compromises its ability to go to sea and fight in all weather.”
“Improving the KH-6’s seakeeping ability would require a major redesign to lower weight within the vessel. That’s not something so easily solved,” Holmes said.
“Calling the craft a ‘fantasy’ overstates things in my view, so our Chinese friends could be indulging in some triumphalism. But I certainly see the KH-6 as only a transitional platform until something better is in the water,” he added.
Wendell Minnick, the Taipei-based Asia bureau chief for Defense News, said the deficiencies mentioned in the article were old ones and that he suspected the navy had ironed most of them out by now.
“The KH-6 missile patrol boat program has experienced developmental problems. One main problem is balancing the weight of larger missiles across the frame,” Minnick told the Taipei Times yesterday. “This has caused some problems in the past, but they appear to be seaworthy at present.”
“For the most part, Taiwan does produce, at the end of the day, impressive weapon systems and in many ways the Taiwanese are some of the best weapons producers in the world,” he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS