It is likely that the military’s Hsiung Feng III (“Brave Wind,” HF-3) missile would be upgraded with military-grade GPS technology, which would greatly increase its precision strike capabilities, military source said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The HF-3 supersonic anti-surface missile is the main missile used by Taiwanese military ships and coastal batteries, they said.
The missile’s effective range is about 150km, while an augmented version of the HF-3 with an effective range of 250km to 400km is rumored to have passed combat trials, the source said.
The deployed missiles use commercial GPS technology, which is less accurate than military-grade GPS, they said.
The military has neither confirmed nor denied rumors that the augmented HF-3 is being produced in small numbers, they added.
The US government is to sell Taiwan General Atomics MQ-9B Sky Guardian drones and coastal Harpoon missile batteries, which both have military-grade GPS, and it is likely that the HF-3 would also be upgraded with the technology, they said.
The sale includes 4 MQ-9B drones with two mobile and two stationary ground control stations, and 14 Embedded GPS/Inertial Navigations System receivers with Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Modules, 12 of which would be installed on the drones.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) last year asked then-defense minister Yen De-fa (嚴得發) whether the MQ-9Bs and the Harpoon systems would be equipped with military-grade GPS, and whether the equipment would be compatible with the US military’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system.
Yen affirmed the questions and said that Taiwan was seeking to integrate with the C4ISR system.
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