Air force Chief of Staff General Tsao Chin-ping (曹進平) confirmed local media reports that a US-made MIM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missile fired during a drill early yesterday prematurely exploded before it hit the target.
Tsao said the air force and the military’s top research unit, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, were still investigating the cause of the explosion.
Local media reports said it was the first time a Patriot missile bought from the US had exploded on its own before hitting its target during firing tests that are conducted in Taiwan every two years.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Separately, the air force apologized to the Coast Guard Administration after one of its F-16 jets badly missed its target during a training session on Wednesday last week and dropped a bomb too close to a coast guard vessel.
An F-16V jet missed its target at sea and dropped a 907kg MK-84 bomb in waters near Pingtung County’s Jioupeng military base, Tsao told a regular briefing.
The bomb sent off a shock wave that affected a crewed coast guard vessel, although no casualties were reported, because the bomb landed several nautical miles from the vessel, he said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The air force has apologized to the Coast Guard Administration and would punish the pilot, as well as his instructor, for failing to properly supervise the bomb drop drill, Tsao said.
Tsao’s apology came after local media reported on the incident late on Monday after several coast guard members complained on social media that they had to seek medical attention because of the shock wave caused by the bomb.
Tsao also confirmed that the air force has not listed a budget for the Beechcraft T-34C trainer replacement program.
The service life of the airframes of Taiwan’s T-34 fleet would not expire for many years and the requirements for their replacement has not yet been determined, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said reports that the navy overspent its ship fuel budget by NT$4 billion (US$125.25 million) were untrue, adding that the funds allocated for fuel would be increased to NT$11 billion next year.
Local media on Monday reported that the navy had exceeded its budget for fuel as it had needed to mount frequent sorties in response to aggressive ship movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy in waters around Taiwan.
The ministry has approved a NT$7.1 billion ship fuel budget for the navy, which has not been exceeded this year, Rear Admiral Chen Chun-chung (陳春忠), chief of the Material Readiness Section at the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Logistics, told a routine news conference in Taipei.
Should funding run out, the navy can apply to use available funding reserves in accordance with regular procedures, he said.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Chin
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS