Taiwan is to buy 400 Harpoon Block II missiles and 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems in one batch by 2028, not separately as originally intended, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday.
Chiu made the statement in response to media queries before attending a session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, adding that the decision was made in light of the rising threat from China, along with other considerations.
The Block II anti-ship missiles would supplement the capabilities of other missiles in service, he said.
Washington in October last year approved a possible sale to Taiwan of up to 100 Harpoon coastal defense systems and related equipment for about US$2.37 billion.
The package is to include 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II surface-launched missiles, four RTM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II exercise missiles, 411 containers, 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense System launcher transporter units, 25 radar trucks and related logistics services and support, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said last year.
Meanwhile, the first indigenous Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) to emerge from production took to the skies at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung on Thursday.
Manufactured by the partially government owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), the trainer with serial number 11003 made its debut test flight accompanied by one of the company’s two AJT prototypes.
A Ministry of National Defense report delivered to the Legislature in September said that the AIDC plans to complete the production of two AJTs by the end of this year.
Sixty-six AJTs are expected to be delivered to the military by 2026, the report said.
The AJT project was initiated in 2017 to replace the military’s decades-old AT-3 trainer aircraft and F-5E/F lead-in fighter trainers.
Two AJT prototypes have since been built, and public test flights of the two planes were conducted last year in June and December.
The development of the jet trainer, codenamed Yung Ying or “Brave Eagle,” was carried out as part of the country’s efforts to become more militarily self reliant.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS