The navy’s La Fayette-class frigates are to undergo NT$43.15 billion (US$1.35 billion) in combat systems upgrades over nine years to bolster their anti-surface capabilities, a military source said yesterday.
The project is also a first attempt to integrate Taiwan-based weaponry with French combat systems, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The first of six La Fayette ships was delivered to Taiwan and began service in 1996. Some of the existing systems on the ships would not be able to take on the threat facing Taiwan in the 21st century, the source said, adding that the navy has been making a series of upgrades to various ship systems to help prolong their service life.
Photo: CNA
The proposed combat system upgrades would swap out aging combat and radar systems, as well as anti-air missiles, the source said.
The RIM-72C Sea Chapparal missiles that the ships came with would be replaced with medium-range naval variants of the Tian Jian-II (“Sky Sword,” 天劍) missile developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the person said.
The missiles would be launched using a vertical launch system, which would be installed below deck at the ship’s prow, the source said, adding that the navy expects the refitting to be completed by 2030.
The first phase of the frigate project has been budgeted at NT$9.73 billion for next year, the source said.
The navy is to select one of the six ships and introduce new hardware from Naval Group, the French defense company that built the ships, and use the new system to issue orders to Sky Sword and Hsiung Feng-III (“Brave Wind,” 雄風) anti-ship missiles, the source said.
The navy anticipates some difficulties in integrating multiple systems and would give the project an assessment period of three years, the person said.
Should the trial prove successful and the results align with the navy’s combat needs, the navy would begin upgrading the rest of the fleet of La Fayette ships, the person added.
The navy confirmed that it was conducting upgrades of the La Fayette ships.
All six ships have undergone communications and engineering upgrades, and four ships that have completed the upgrades have been tested, while the other two are expected to be finished by the end of this year, the navy said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS