The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has reportedly attributed the less-than-ideal results of a recent live-fire air defense drill to the malfunction of Banshee target drones that simulate enemy aircraft or missiles.
Six of the 19 missiles with different ranges fired in Tuesday’s exercise missed their targets or failed to detonate, prompting President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who witnessed the drill, to express dissatisfaction with the results and demand a review.
Military insiders said the failure could be related to the drones’ weak signals, which the missiles could not pick up.
Military sources said all six unexploded missiles were targeted at Banshee drones, which were manufactured by state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC).
Only one of the 13 missiles that hit target drones — a Magic missile — was aimed at an AIDC-made Banshee drone. The 12 others were either aimed at infrared irradiation bombs or Model 1089 drones.
A senior military officer who declined to be identified said the locally developed Tien-chien II medium-range missile had never missed its target in any previous drills until Tuesday.
A video analysis with a high-speed camera showed that the Tien Chien II (TC-II) air-to-air missile scratched the Banshee drone, but did not explode, possibly because the signal emitted from the drone was too weak or the missile’s sensor malfunctioned, the officer said.
He also said the military held a similar training exercise late last year at the same missile testing base in Pingtung County, with Chief of the General Staff General Lin Chen-yi (林鎮夷) presiding. In that drill, the missile strike success rate reached 90 percent, according to the officer.
“The lower-than-expected success rate in the latest drill came as a surprise,” he said.
He also said the ministry would not discuss who should be held accountable or disciplined for the poor showing until after an investigation was completed.
All of Taiwan’s three main air-to-air missiles — the TC-II, MICA and Sparrow — encountered problems in Tuesday’s test-firing — the largest live-fire military exercise since Ma assumed office.
A retired Air Force officer said medium-range missiles should not have been test-fired in low-altitude or short-range scenarios.
The former officer said he believed that the military arranged the drill simply with the intention of having Ma see missiles hitting their targets.their targets.
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