The air force would increase its efforts to receive the Executive Yuan’s approval for a project to upgrade the capabilities of 19 C-130 Hercules aircraft, which is estimated to cost more than NT$10 billion (US$307.889 million), sources said yesterday.
It is also pushing to include the project in the fiscal budget for next year, the sources said.
The project would include upgrades to the planes’ chassis, a digitization overhaul of the pilot cockpit avionics, including GPS systems, counter-electronic warfare equipment and upgrades to communication and flight assist subsystems, they said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The anonymous military officials said the project also covers upgrades to ground warning systems and anti-collision warning systems.
Most importantly, the C-130H is one of several plane types that can be dispatched outside of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and, after refitting and upgrades, would be more in line with international civil aviation regulations, they said.
It would also increase Taiwan’s capability to conduct international humanitarian missions, they added.
The government has had plans to upgrade the planes since it received them from the US in 1986, but plans had constantly been delayed as other projects were prioritized, military officials said.
The air force has sent the project for approval, Air Force Sixth Wing 10th Group Political Warfare Department Colonel Wang Yi-ching (王怡靜) said in a media interview in January.
Taiwan would just be an observer at this year’s C-130 Technical Coordination Group International Technical Program Review, Wang said on the nation’s participation in the event.
“We hope, however, to become a full member and fly our C-130s along with a full crew, [and] to officially participate in the event,” Wang said.
The frequency of conducting joint exercises with countries that are friendly toward Taiwan has been increasing over the past years, and on many occasions, the C-130H was the go-to transportation used in bringing personnel and equipment to where the exercises are held, sources in the military said.
This highlights the importance upgrading the C-130H, they 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 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
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS