Taiwan’s top military research institute last month test-fired a powerful new anti-ship missile that could send a strong signal to China as it launches its first aircraft carrier, a reports said yesterday.
According to the Chinese-language United Daily News, the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology completed a series of tests of the missile, which has been referred to as a variant of the Hsiung Feng III (HF-3) anti-ship missile.
The HF-3, showcased at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in August last year as a “carrier killer,” is a ramjet-powered, 120kg payload supersonic anti-ship missile with an estimated range of between 130km and 150km and a maximum speed of Mach 2, or about twice the speed of sound.
Because of their limited range, HF-3s deployed on ground launchers along the west coast of Taiwan are unable to reach certain targets across the Taiwan Strait or out at sea, and force ships armed with the missile to come dangerously close to their targets, thus exposing them to strikes before they can launch an attack.
The variant, which the Ministry of National Defense, citing protocol on weapons development, refused to discuss, is reported to have a range of 400km and is capable of reaching Mach 3.
Quoting an unnamed defense industry source, the US-based Defense News reported in April that Taiwan was developing a new type of anti-ship cruise missile that, once operational, would be deployed on the east coast and directed across the Strait at the Chinese coast. Such positioning would use mountain range cover against Chinese missiles while still bringing targets navigating the Strait within range. It would also extend the range within which land-based launchers can attack vessels in the Western Pacific.
The reports did not provide a payload for the variant, though a payload greater than 120kg would be necessary for it to constitute a real threat to aircraft carriers.
The news comes about one month after the Chinese military commissioned the Liaoning, its first aircraft carrier, following years of refurbishing work on a Ukraine-built hull formerly known as the Varyag.
The Chinese defense ministry only officially confirmed late last month that naval pilots on board indigenously built J-15 aircraft had conducted “touch-and-go” exercises last month as they learn to operate at sea.
The Liaoning embarked on a 19-day sea exercise on Sunday, during which pilots will reportedly conduct further landings.
In addition to the Liaoning, military analysts believe China is developing two or three aircraft carriers, with a possible entry into service as early as 2020.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
RSS