The military has acquired the ability to develop simulators for a variety of weapon systems bought mainly from abroad, but the simulators have yet to gain the trust of military leaders, who generally prefer products purchased from foreign countries, people associated with the simulators development said.
The military-run Chun Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) has developed several different types of simulators for the armed services, and aspires to do more work in the area.
Simulators for the domestically-built IDF plane and US-designed F-5E fighter, which have been in use for several years and receive favorable response from users in the air force.
The CSIST just demonstrated its newest product of the category -- simulators for the M60-A3 tank -- during the four-day Taipei Aerospace Technology Exhibition (TATE) that ended yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center.
The simulators for the US-made M60A3 tank were the first of the kind that the CSIST developed for the army.
They made their public debut at TATE, although they have been in use by the army's armor school for some time for training.
A senior CSIST official who was involved in the development of the M60A3 simulators, said the institute has the ability to develop simulators for more weapon systems, but that it has not earned the trust of military leaders.
"Our simulators are much cheaper than those bought from abroad, without compromising their quality. They are easier to maintain and operate. Their operation panels and manuals are all in Chinese, which makes a huge difference for local users," the official said.
"The M60A3 simulators cost around NT$47 million each. If the army bought similar equipment from abroad, it would have to spend several times that amount," he said.
"Although the M60A3 tank will reach its retirement age in the coming years, the simulators we developed for it could be converted to serve newer tank models, such as the M1A2," he said.
The official expressed disappointment at military leaders' lack of confidence in the CSIST for large-scale projects.
The contract to develop simulators for the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, for instance, was awarded to a foreign company at the cost of NT$1 billion.
"The project would not cost so much money if it were granted to us. It is a matter of self-confidence," the CSIST official said.
The CSIST is not the only branch of the military that has acquired the ability to develop defense-related products equal to international standards. The army has also entered the field.
The army showcased a computer training program at the TATE that it developed on its own for use with a tactical communications systems purchased from the US.
The training program was the work of the Army Communication Electronics Information School. It was designed for the Improved Mobile Subscriber System, which the US military used to great effect during the 1991 Gulf War.
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
VERTICAL INTEGRATION: The US fabless company’s acquisition of the data center manufacturer would not affect market competition, the Fair Trade Commission said The Fair Trade Commission has approved Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) bid to fully acquire ZT International Group Inc for US$4.9 billion, saying it would not hamper market competition. As AMD is a fabless company that designs central processing units (CPUs) used in consumer electronics and servers, while ZT is a data center manufacturer, the vertical integration would not affect market competition, the commission said in a statement yesterday. ZT counts hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Google among its major clients and plays a minor role in deciding the specifications of data centers, given the strong bargaining power of
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
RSS