The army is to buy a new anti-tank missile from the US despite the fact that it already has a stockpile of similar weapons systems.
The new anti-tank missile is the medium-range portable Javelin, according to the Ministry of National Defense's budget for next year.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The army plans to buy 360 Javelin missiles and 40 launchers at a cost of around NT$1.4 billion. The purchase will be spread out over three years, according to the budget. The deal was approved by the US government in 2000.
The Javelin will become the newest entry in the army's stockpile of anti-tank weapons procured over the past two decades.
The army now has in its inventory over 10,000 anti-tank rockets and missiles as well as an unknown number of anti-tank artillery projectiles.
Eleven Jan (詹皓), a senior editor with Defense Technology Monthly magazine, said the army's stockpile exceeds its defense needs.
"The army does not need so many anti-tank weapons. Is it possible for China to land a large number of tanks on Taiwan? If the scenario does happen, it means Taiwan's air force and navy have been destroyed by the Chinese military. By that time, the army could not do much to reverse the situation," Jan said.
"The reason why the army has purchased so many anti-tank weapons is the parochialism of the army leaders. Each army chief considers buying high-profile weapon systems as a key achievement during his term. This mentality has resulted in inconsistencies in the army's arms build-up plans. Each army chief thinks better of himself and does not want to continue plans left by his predecessors," he said.
Citing the French-made Apilas anti-tank rocket system as an example, Jan said the army has bought a lot of useless anti-tank weapons. The army bought the Apilas in 1997.
"The Apilas is too heavy and too large for a soldier to bear on his shoulder. It was designed for Westerners, who have larger and stronger builds. The army has admitted to the problem, but it insists the situation can be overcome through enhancing anti-tank troops' physical training," Jan said.
"The weapon system was ordered at a time when Taiwan had good relations with France because of the big-ticket weapon platforms such as the Mirage 2000-5 fighter plane and the Lafayette-class frigate that Taiwan bought from the European country. The deal may have been made for political reasons," he said.
The army's procurement of the anti-tank version of the Hellfire air-to-ground missile was also a bad decision, Jan said, since the anti-ship variant of the missile will better serve Taiwan's defense needs.
The Hellfire missile is carried on the army's AH-1W attack helicopter and OH-58D reconnaissance helicopter.
"The anti-ship variant of the missile will be more useful to the army because it can be used to sink ships carrying Chinese tanks across the Taiwan Strait. It can kill many tanks at the same time. The anti-tank version of the missile can be used against Chinese tanks only after they land on Taiwan. It can destroy only one target at a time," Jan said.
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s