Taiwan expects to begin mass production of the nation’s first domestically developed tungsten-core rifle ammunition next year, a high-ranking defense official said yesterday.
On condition of anonymity, the official said the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau has completed a series of tests and is preparing to deliver prototype rounds to the army for testing.
The bureau is confident the new ammunition would meet military expectations and be included in next year’s general budget, paving the way for mass production, the official said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The tungsten-core round is designed to penetrate the standard-issue body armor worn by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Ground Force, they added.
The prototype achieved a 100 percent success rate in defeating commercial off-the-shelf body armor believed to match the performance of Chinese equipment, the source said.
The introduction of armor-piercing rifle rounds would significantly enhance the lethality of Taiwan’s infantry forces, they added.
Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told lawmakers late last year that while Taiwan’s military had not ruled out adopting a 6.8mm rifle cartridge — similar to that used by the US Army — there were concerns about the increased weight and logistical trade-offs of using heavier ammunition.
In March, the US Army began limited fielding of the SIG XM7 rifle, the winning design in the Next Generation Squad Weapon program. Chambered in 6.8x51mm Common Cartridge, the XM7 was first deployed to the 101st Airborne Division.
The US Army has said that a significantly more powerful service cartridge is necessary to counter advances in body armor technology, extend the effective range of infantry squads and provide a decisive advantage in small-arms lethality.
However, Chen said that the 100,000 rifles produced by the US represent a minuscule volume and that most NATO members continue to rely on the combat-proven 5.56x45mm cartridge as their standard rifle ammunition.
While the US-designed 6.8x51mm round offers greater firepower, it comes with trade-offs — including heavier loads and a lower ammunition count per soldier, Chen said.
The army estimated that adopting the US bullet would increase standard infantry loadout by 5kg, he said, adding that combat units were evaluating whether an operational need for a new cartridge exists.
The ministry said that a 6.8mm rifle prototype has been developed and is being tested by the armed forces.
In other developments, the ministry said in a report to the legislature last week that the navy expects to receive 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II (U) Surface-Launched Missiles and 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense System launcher transporter units by 2028.
The acquisition of the surface-launched Harpoon variant is aimed at bolstering coastal defense capabilities and the kill probability of Taiwanese weapons against Chinese naval formations.
The US is scheduled to deliver five launcher units and one radar vehicle by the end of next month, with a total of 32 launchers to be delivered by the end of next year, the report said.
While the Harpoon Block II missile has a nominal range of 67 nautical miles (124.1km), a senior Taiwanese naval officer told lawmakers that the upgraded Block II (U) variant purchased by the military includes extended-range capabilities.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS