The military has posted a NT$126 million (US$3.86 million) open procurement notice for plane propellers, expected to be part of a NT$10 billion air force project to upgrade its C-130 aircraft over the next six years.
While funding for the project, known as Taiwushan III, has not been listed on the Ministry of National Defense’s budget for next year, the preliminary administrative fee of NT$126 million is understood to be required for the upgrade process.
The document lists an exchange rate of US$1 to NT$30.651, indicating a procurement cost of US$4.11 million.
Photo: CNA
The first batch of 12 C-130s purchased from the US, which were assembled in 1984, have been in service for 40 years, the military said.
The Taiwushan projects are initiated based on the purchase dates of the C-130 plane batches, with the most recent project to target the third batch of planes for upgrades.
Upgrades are to include a new cockpit interface suite, increased sea search-and-rescue operations capabilities, GPS, plane location systems and anti-collision systems.
Separately, the ministry said it had detected three Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force planes and six PLA Navy ships in the vicinity of Taiwan between 6am on Tuesday and 6am yesterday.
Two of the PLA Air Force aircraft were combat jets operating in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait, while the third was a helicopter sighted somewhere off the east coast of Taiwan, it said.
Meanwhile, a balloon originating from a Chinese-held territory passed near Taiwan, about 64 nautical miles (118.53km) northwest of Keelung, at an altitude of about 6,706m, at 8:22am on Tuesday, but disappeared from radar at about 10:25am, it said.
The ministry said it closely monitored the aircraft, scrambling fighters and ships, and preparing coastal-based missile systems.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
RSS