The Ministry of National Defense’s latest report to the Legislative Yuan warned that China’s DF-1000 medium-range supersonic cruise missile poses a severe threat to Taiwan’s national security.
Defense officials made the remarks in the ministry’s budget report at the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, highlighting China’s strength in rocket artillery systems, hypersonic ballistic missiles and long-range supersonic cruise missiles.
These weapons are expected to be utilized to provide fire support for the People’s Liberation Army’s conducting of ambitious landing or air assault operations directed against Taiwan, they said.
Photo: AP
China’s medium-range supersonic cruise missile DF-1000 is one such weapon that Beijing might use to deny Taiwan’s surrounding seas to the fleets of the latter’s allies, the officials said, describing the missiles as a serious threat.
This weapon was a development of the older CJ-10 cruise missiles and was unveiled to the public during a military parade in Beijing in 2019, according to open sources.
The DF-1000 makes use of a ramjet engine that supposedly allows the missile to achieve a maximum speed of Mach 4 and a top altitude of 30km while the guidance system is capable of a myriad of guidance modes, including infrared imagery, satellite navigation or inertia, they said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The range of this missile was unknown but it should at least be superior to the CJ-10, which had a range of 2,000km, and some experts speculate that its range exceeds 3,000km.
According to a 2020 report by the US Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, DF-1000 missiles have been deployed with the PLA Rocket Force’s 656th Brigade, a unit garrisoned in China’s Shandong Province.
Assuming an effective range of 2,000km, this deployment puts Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the northern regions of the Philippines under threat, it said, adding that the DF-1000 should reach full operating capacity sometime later this year.
The PAC-3 Patriot missiles Taiwan has procured, as well as South Korea’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which is being deployed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, are believed to have the performance parameters to intercept the DF-1000.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS