The Navy yesterday continued to rebut reports that it faked the results of an exercise during the 2007 Han Kuang military exercises.
The issue came to light after the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on Monday that a Harpoon missile launched during the exercise had missed its target and fallen into the sea, although naval officers claimed success.
“We have evidence to prove it. We are 100 percent sure that the missile hit its target,” said Rear Admiral Pu Tse-chun (蒲澤春), head of Navy Command Headquarters’ Department of Programming.
Pu made the remarks during a press conference at the Ministry of National Defense yesterday morning. Pu was 168 Fleet commander at the time.
Pu displayed pictures and documents to support his statement.
“We monitored the entire exercise from radar on board the Keelung. The missile disappeared from the radar screen after it hit the target ship. It did not fall into the sea,” Pu said.
Captain Lee Tung-fang (李東昉), who was on board the Knox-class frigate Feng Yang during the exercise, said there was a “hole” on the target ship that indicated the missile had come from the air, which led Navy officers to conclude that it was hit by a Harpoon fired from an Air Force fighter during the exercise.
Captain Tsai Ming-hui (蔡明輝), chief engineer at Navy Command Headquarters, dismissed the allegation that the transmission signals of the Harpoon stopped soon after it was launched. He said it emitted a signal up until it hit the target.
Asked whether video equipment on board an unmanned aerial vehicle recorded sufficient footage from above the target ship, Chi Chun-jung (齊俊榮), deputy chief of the Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology’s Department of Aviation Examination, said the footage only showed the impact of the missile.
“Both the Air Force and the Navy launched Harpoon missiles. The footage, however, could not help us determine the platform from which it was launched,” Chi said.
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