A Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday that the army would seek to replace its remaining Bell AH-1W Super Cobras with Sikorsky MH-60M Blackhawk helicopters, but the military refused to comment on the story.
"Let me say it one more time. This idea is in the concept stage only," Ministry of National Defense Spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (
It was the second time that Wu had been approached for comment regarding the army's plan to purchase new helicopters.
Defense News reported last week that the military was planning to purchase 30 attack helicopters from the US to replace its 62 remaining AH-1Ws, which were purchased in 1993. Bell AH-1Z Cobras, Boeing AH-64D Apache Block IIIs and Sikorsky MH-60M helicopters were all being considered, according to Defense News.
Yesterday, the China Times newspaper reported that the MH-60M was now favored by the army.
The report acknowledged that all military purchases were dependent on the annual budget, and that the purchase was still in the planning stage. Furthermore, the paper said, the budget proposal for the next fiscal year was not yet complete.
In addition to replacing its AH-1Ws, the army is also likely to retire its remaining Bell UH-1H Iroquois, which are more than 30 years old.
Because parts for the UH-1H are no longer manufactured, it has become extremely difficult for the army to maintain these helicopters.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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