The navy is reportedly considering building eight light patrol ships with displacements between 2,000 and 2,500 tonnes amid a delay in plans to update the nation’s fleet of guided missile frigates.
There are three types of warships in the Navy Command, classified by vessel size and commander rank. First are destroyers and patrol vessels led by a captain, followed by patrol ships larger than 1,000 tonnes led by a commander and smaller patrol boats led by a lieutenant commander.
However, ships fitting the second category are no longer in commission, requiring 500-tonne Ching Chiang-class patrol boats to assume the duties previously assigned to 1,000-tonne vessels.
Taiwan’s new Tuo Chiang-class corvettes also fall under the third and smallest category.
If the navy were to commission heavier, 2,000-tonne patrol ships, they could act as “sea warhorses,” said Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), an assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
Tuo Chiang-class corvettes are meant for rapid combat and serve as launch sites for anti-ship missiles, Shu said in an interview on Saturday.
The 2,000-tonne patrol ships could better withstand challenging winter sea conditions in the Taiwan Strait and are more suited to cruising missions that would be expensive for 4,000-tonne vessels to carry out, Shu added.
Building ships is not a problem; the issue is their intended capabilities, retired navy Captain Yang Yu-sheng (楊于勝) said.
The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has clearly run into a bottleneck in its plan for the next generation of guided missile frigates, Yang said.
If it wants to build light patrol ships, they cannot be “super warships” equipped with a full suite of capabilities, he added.
Asked if the nation needs more healthy competition in military research and development, Yang said it depends on whether a market exists.
The military hardware industry has a high threshold for entry, and private academic institutions must also be willing to cooperate, he said.
Another analyst disagreed with the rumored plan, saying that the institute should instead purchase phased array radar and other key systems from the US.
Given the current strength of Taiwan-US relations, this should be the priority rather than building “barely usable” light cruisers, said Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former instructor at the Republic of China Naval Academy and a former naval captain.
After all, modern patrol ships without vertical launch systems to fire anti-aircraft missiles or phased array radar could hardly stave off a saturation attack, he said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS