After blasting the quality of the domestically built Hsiung Feng-II anti-ship missile, the navy confirmed yesterday its plans to buy the US equivalent -- the Harpoon.
"Compared with the RGM -84L Harpoon missile, which we are seeking to procure, the Hsiung Feng-II is inferior in respect to its range and maneuverability," said Rear Admiral Kung Chia-cheng (
"We have decided to replace the Hsiung Feng-II with the Harpoon as the standard anti-ship missile on the Cheng Kung-class frigate mainly out of concerns for the higher cost-effectiveness of the new weapon system, as well as its estimated boost to the combat strength of the navy," Kung said.
"All of the Hsiung Feng-II missiles now on board the Cheng Kung-class frigates will be moved to the domestically-built Ching Chiang-class patrol boats as well as next-generation missile boats, which are now in a pre-production stage," he said.
Kung made the remarks yesterday during the Ministry of National Defense's (MND) weekly press conference.
He is the first naval official to openly admit the inferiority of the Hsiung Feng-II missile to weapons of the same category produced by other countries.
The Hsiung Feng-II is the pride of the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), which developed the missile on its own.
The navy's decision to replace the Hsiung Feng-II missile with a new variant of the Harpoon-series missiles did not receive a favorable response from some lawmakers, however.
KMT lawmaker Chou Cheng-chih (
"The Hsiung Feng-II missile was chosen for the Cheng Kung-class frigate mainly because the US was not willing to sell the Harpoons to Taiwan at the time when the frigates were built," he said.
"Now the US has agreed to sell us the Harpoons after we have spent a lot of money installing the Hsiung Feng-II missiles on the Cheng Kung-class frigates and have succeeded in integrating the domestically built weapons system into the platform modeled on the US' Perry-class frigates," Chou said.
"I do not see the point of spending another billion New Taiwan dollars on buying a new weapon system to replace the existing Hsiung Feng-II, which is already very good," he said.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Hsiung Feng-II might not be as good as the Harpoon, but that the navy should not dance to the US' tune just because it is changing its arms policy toward Taiwan.
"The US always sells high-tech weapons to Taiwan at a point when Taiwan has already acquired the ability to produce the same kind of weapon itself. We should not enslave ourselves to US policymakers, whose main concern is the interests of their own country," the official said.
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