The navy yesterday held a public event to display the tactical capabilities of its indigenously built corvettes and minelaying ships ahead of the Lunar New Year.
The vessels, built by Lungteh Shipbuilding in Yilan County, appeared at the Weihai Naval Base (威海營區) in Keelung, but due to bad weather, only the two Tuo Chiang-class stealth multimission corvettes demonstrated their capabilities.
The corvettes conducted tracking and firing simulations using Sea Sword II air-defense missiles, 76mm naval guns, their close-in weapon systems and jamming shells, while also showing off their maneuverability by hitting 35 knots in rough waters.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The Sea Sword II missile was developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, which also designed the automatic minelaying system used aboard the navy’s new Min Jiang-class vessels.
Although the minelayers did not go out to sea, its minelaying system was shown publicly for the first time.
The system aims to lessen the pressure and workload on small crews, while also covering a greater area to lay mines.
Photo: AFP
The nation currently has four minelayers, completed and delivered last month, and two of the Tuo Chiang-class corvettes — the Tuo Chiang and Ta Chiang — with up to 12 more of the corvettes on order.
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