The military yesterday denied a media report that said locally produced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), part of a development program named Long March (長征), failed to meet combat requirements and that the military had decided to suspend the program.
The Chinese-language United Evening News reported that the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology this year completed a prototype of a Long March UAV, but because the air force required greater combat capabilities than the prototype delivered, the program was suspended.
The report said that the Long March UAV program was launched in 2009 with a budget of NT$3 billion (US$100 million), but the air force required a vehicle with a combat radius large enough to enable it to conduct surveillance operations around Chinese military airports along the coasts of Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces and the prototype could not match those requirements.
The report quoted Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) as saying that the military wasted NT$3 billion on a system that could not be produced.
Lin was quoted as asking why the air force made the requirement for the UAV, since the military’s US-established early-warning radar system was able to monitor movement along the Chinese coast.
In response, the military said there were breakthroughs in some key technologies, which would be helpful for the development of weapons programs.
No money was wasted on military technology research, it added.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS