Plans by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to purchase 60 45-tonne missile boats to bolster anti-ship missile coverage and increase missile deployment mobility might be too idealistic and require reconsideration, legislators and defense analysts said on Wednesday last week.
The attack boats might be too light to offer a stable platform for the Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said.
The small size of the ships would bar the possibility of installing anything but the most basic of radar systems, if their installation were even possible, which would greatly affect missile capability, Tsai said.
While the ministry’s assessments determined that the attack boats would be able to conduct missions in conditions up to level 5 winds on the Beaufort scale, wind speeds and waves during the winter often exceed level 5, Tsai said, adding that the proposed missile boats would be largely limited by such factors.
The Kuang Hua VI fast-attack missile boat serves the same purpose and acts as a more stable platform for launching missiles, Tsai said.
The ministry might want to revise its thinking about the viability of its proposal, Tsai said.
While the ministry should be applauded for seeking to make breakthroughs in asymmetrical warfare tactics, 45 tonnes is simply too light for a missile attack boat, Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine editor-in-chief Kevin Cheng (鄭繼文) said.
The ships could not provide the fire control and radar capacity required for such a platform, Cheng said.
The ships would simply become mobile missile platforms dependent on land-based radar guidance, Chen said, but added that were hostilities to break out across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese radar systems would undoubtedly be priority targets.
With its radars down, Taiwan’s traffic control and reconnaissance would be paralyzed, Cheng said, questioning whether the patrol boats’ intended wolf pack tactics would remain viable.
The ministry pursued similar tactics in 1980 when it created the Hai Ou missile boat — the Kuang Hua VI’s predecessor — Cheng said, adding that the Hai Ou was incapable of operating during the winter with winds greater than level 5.
China is also looking into asymmetrical warfare and plans to counter the nation’s wolf pack tactics with swarm tactics that use large fleets of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), Cheng said.
Whether Taiwanese wolf packs could perform surface guerilla warfare under bombardments by Chinese UAVs is unknown, he said.
The ministry might wish to consider laying mines, Cheng said, adding that they cost less and that China has relatively weak mine-sweeping and mine-hunting capabilities.
If Taiwan could successfully negotiate obtaining key technologies, such as combat systems, it would be one step closer to achieving its indigenous submarine project, Cheng added.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
CHANGES: While NCCU opened the nation’s first co-ed dorm in Mucha, a recent survey showed that Taiwanese are in favor of abolishing gender segregation at high schools National Chengchi University (NCCU) has opened a co-ed dormitory, a first in Taiwan among state-funded Taiwan universities. The 22 duplexes are at the renovated “Huanan New Village,” in Taipei City’s Mucha (木柵) area, near the NCCU campus, a school official said yesterday. Twenty-two out of 37 group applications were selected in a lottery draw to select who would be chosen to live in the units, which can either be shared by up to eight students if the unit has four bedrooms, or up to 10 students if it is a five-bedroom unit, officials said. Completed in 1964 for campus staff housing,
RSS