The air force recently successfully test-fired the indigenously developed Tien Chien-II (TC-II) air-to-air missile and has future tests planned, military sources said yesterday.
In the test, an Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF,
FILE PHOTO, TAIPEI TIMES
The TC-II, also known as Sky Sword-II, can track targets with its own radar.
It was not the first time that the TC-II had been tested since it entered service in 1994. But the recent successful test was important for the air force.
The test was significant in that it gave the air force its first chance to see whether the TC-II would work as well as it was supposed to in tough conditions.
The result was satisfactory to the air force because the TC-II was tested at its maximum level, scanning eight targets in sequence and securing a lock on four of them.
The successful test boosted the confidence of the air force about putting the missile to another test -- a more difficult one -- in the months to come.
The next test of the medium-range missile will determine whether it is capable of locking down and engaging hostile targets at low altitudes, as it was designed to do.
The TC-II is similar to its French and US equivalents, the Mica and the AIM-120. The three types of missiles fall into the same category -- the beyond-visual-range and fire-and-forget air-to-air missile.
Taiwan has already bought the Mica for use on the Mirage 2000-5 fighter plane. As for the AIM-120, Taiwan will not be able to acquire it for two years.
An air force official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the TC-II test means much more to the service than the test of the US-made Sparrow air-to-air missile, which also took place several months ago.
"The two missiles are on different footings. The TC-II has already joined the club of fire-and-forget missiles, while the Sparrow is an earlier-generation of medium-range air-to-air missiles," the official said.
"It is important to be aware that the TC-II is not only a much better weapon than the Sparrow but also more cost-effective," the official said. "We usually need to fire two Sparrows to ensure that the locked target will not be missed ... But we only need one TC-II to do the same job. What is the comparison?"
"If we have to count on the Sparrow to engage with invading aircraft from China, we will run out of the missiles very soon," he said.
"The TC-II has scared off even the most advanced fighter plane in the Chinese air force -- the Su-27. China has taken delivery of the equivalent to the TC-II -- the R-77 -- from Russia, but still has a long way to go because it is not yet fully capable of utilizing the new weapon," he added.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS