The first of six sets of short-range automated defense weapons systems, purchased by the army, is to be deployed on Dongyin, an islet in the Matsu archipelago, to strengthen defenses in the area, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The funding for the NT$725 million (US$23.9 million) system would be spread across fiscal 2019 to 2021, with full deployment expected by the end of next year, it said on Saturday last week.
The Navy Command has purchased three sets for NT$200 billion, with the land-based variants expected to be deployed on Wuciou Island in Kinmen County, the ministry said.
The system was tested with live-fire trials at Wuciou and the Joint Forces Training Base in Pingtung County in 2014 and was on display at the 2017 Paris Air Show, it said.
The system is based on the locally produced T-75 20mm autocannon and buyers have the option of selecting the single-barrel XTR-101 or the twin-barrel XTR-102, the ministry said, adding that it can be used on land, or mounted on vehicles or ship prows.
It can be remotely controlled, making it significantly less dangerous to use as operators would be safe behind cover, it said.
The system also features a concentrated firing mechanism, allowing one person to operate of several systems at once to aim a concentrated barrage at priority targets, it said.
While the system does not use new technology, it has low overhead costs and utilizes mature photonic technology, the ministry said.
In other news, an article in the military section of Chinese Web site Sina Online said that while the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) usually names its Type 055 destroyers after cities with historic ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Taipei could not be ruled out as a option.
The article said that as of March 12, the PLAN had approved the name Zun Yi (遵義) for its third Type 055 destroyer, although in parentheses it also said that this was doubtful, as the third ship could be named Taipei, instead.
The Chinese Red Army, the forerunner of the PLA, in 1935 moved into Zunyi in Guizhou Province, one of the few cities that had not turned the Red Army away during the Long March. It was in Zunyi that the CCP had held a meeting that saw Mao Zedong (毛澤東) return to power in the party.
Taiwanese military personnel on Monday said that the Republic of China (ROC) Navy does not have a ship named Taipei.
However, they added that the Coast Guard Administration does.
The military also said that two of the ROC Navy’s Kangding-class destroyers, the Sining and Kunming , have the same names as PLAN Type 052-D missile destroyers.
The PLAN also has a Type 053 naval ship named Kangding , the same as the name of the ROC Navy’s Kangding-class destroyers, the military said.
A ROC Navy Cheng Kung-class frigate, the Zhenghe (鄭和), shares the same name as a PLAN ship, although the Chinese ship is not a combat vessel and is mainly used for training, it said.
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