The military is to hold live-fire missile drills in the sea and airspace around Pingtung County starting later this month, the Maritime and Port Bureau said in navigational warnings.
The exercises, which are to be conducted from March 25 to April 19 and from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28, appear to revolve around Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung’s Manchu Township (滿州).
Flight and navigation restrictions have been declared in and above the waters west of the county off Jiupeng Desert (九棚沙漠) and east of the county off Fangshan Township (枋山), said the warning, which was issued on Thursday.
Photo provided by the military-run Youth Daily News
Previous exercises, the headquarters and locations named in the warning would suggest that AH-64 helicopter gunships, Thunderbolt-2000 multi-launch rocket systems, Stinger air defense missile systems and TOW anti-tank guided missile systems would be involved in the drills.
Apache gunships are expected to launch Hellfire missiles at ocean targets from March 25 to March 29 and on April 11, during a portion of the exercises called “Divine Eagle.”
The indigenously developed Thunderbolt-2000 rocket artillery systems would likely fire at ocean targets on April 9 and April 18, during the “Thunderbolt” exercise.
The “Divine Bow” phase would likely involve Stinger missile systems and consist of a tracking phase on April 1 and April 2, as well as a launching phase six days later.
TOW anti-tank guided missile systems are expected to fire at ocean targets from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28 during the “Sky Horse” exercise. This is the only portion of the drills that would affect the waters off Fangshan.
Weapons would not be fired on all of the dates listed.
In other developments, the navy is expecting to take delivery of its fifth and sixth domestically built Tuo Chiang-class corvettes before the end of this month, a military source said on Friday.
The An Chiang and Wan Chiang corvettes, built by Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船), were launched in October and November last year respectively, they said.
The Tuo Chiang-class are fast, and stealthy multipurpose corvettes designed and manufactured in Taiwan.
Other than the prototype, the Tuo Chiang (PGG-618), which was commissioned in 2015, the first batch comprised six corvettes. The fourth vessel was delivered to the navy on Friday, the source said.
As progress has been smooth, the batch’s two remaining corvettes are expected to be delivered by the end of this month, the source said.
The navy aims to build 12 Tuo Chiang-class corvettes by the end of 2026. The corvettes are fitted with subsonic Hsiung Feng-II (HF-2) missiles, supersonic Hsiung Feng-III (HF-3) anti-ship missiles, a 76mm cannon and Sea Sword II carrier-based medium-range air defense missiles, giving them the ability to hit air and sea targets simultaneously.
Other than the prototype and the second vessel delivered, the next five Tuo Chiang-class corvettes are to be fitted with eight subsonic HF-2 missiles and four supersonic HF-3 anti-ship missiles each, while the following five warships are to have four HF-2s and eight HF-3s, a Ministry of National Defense report to the Legislative Yuan said.
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