The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday.
Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said.
With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded or Chinese-owned supply chains — the rest of the USV was produced in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: CNA
The ship uses a trimaran hull for better balance in choppy seas and is designed for low observability. It is 8.6m long and 3.7m wide, can carry up to 1 tonne of payload — including lightweight torpedoes and high-powered explosives — and has a top speed of 35 knots (64.8kph), Huang said.
The vessel can alternate between 4G networks, radio frequency or satellite guidance for remote control when its signal is interrupted, he said.
The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party, he added.
The USV has in-built settings for multiple USVs to operate together, collision prevention, artificial intelligence-assisted target acquisition and anti-ship hijacking, Huang said.
The Yushan-class landing platform dock, for example, can carry about 20 USVs, he said, adding that a single control station can control up to 50 USVs.
CSBC said it would not be attending the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology USV contest involving the institute’s project Kuai Chi (快奇), as it would have its hands full with the development of the Endeavor Manta, which was so named because the designers took inspiration from the manta’s camouflage abilities and the comparably severe sting compared with its size.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday that the first F-16 block 70 jets have completed tests would be turned over to Taiwan in Greenville, South Carolina, on Friday.
As of press time last night, neither the air force nor the Ministry of National Defense had commented on the report.
The ministry on March 13 said that it would send a deputy minister to the event, while the air force said it would send its deputy chief of staff.
Additional reporting by Fang Wei-li and Chen Chih-cheng
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