The navy’s new plan to build two 2,000-tonne light frigates instead of one 4,500-tonne guided-missile frigate is meant to better counter China’s gray-zone threats in a more cost-effective way, a senior naval official said yesterday.
The light frigates would be equipped with Hsiung Feng-3 (HF-3) supersonic anti-ship missiles to serve as a deterrent to Chinese aircraft carriers, navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo (蔣正國) told lawmakers.
Chiang was speaking at a legislative hearing about the navy’s decision to ditch the original program.
The military initially budgeted NT$24.5 billion (US$769.5 million) from 2019 to 2026 to build a 4,500-tonne guided missile frigate, but following multiple delays, found that the larger vessel no longer addressed the navy’s needs.
Its latest proposal is to build two prototypes — an anti-air and an anti-submarine light frigate — before the end of 2026.
The proposal has to clear the legislature’s floor first.
Chiang said the decision was made for cost reasons, because deploying a larger guided-missile frigate to counter China’s gray-zone threats would be too expensive.
The anti-air light frigate could be armed with TC-2 mid-range air-defense missiles, while the other could be armed with HF-3 anti-submarine missiles, he said.
After completing the two prototypes, the navy would continue to build similar light frigates to replace eight aging Knox-class frigates that have been in service in Taiwan since the 1990s, he said.
Gray-zone tactics are generally defined as coercive actions that do not meet the definition of conventional warfare. They can refer to Chinese aircraft conducting maneuvers not far from Taiwan or China’s use of fishing fleets to stake out waters at sea.
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