A Taiwanese general aviation company that trains pilots for domestic and overseas commercial airlines is assisting the navy and the Coast Guard Administration in detecting Chinese military vessels near Taiwan after installing military-grade sensors on one of its twin-engine aircraft.
Taipei-based Apex Aviation (安捷航空) has equipped a Tecnam P2012 Sentinel SMP twin-engine aircraft with advanced surveillance systems under the “Goshawk Project” (蒼鷹計畫), a rare integration of military-grade sensors into a privately operated jet.
The aircraft carries two primary systems: a Star Safire 380-HDc infrared electro-optical unit made by US-based Teledyne FLIR, and an NSP-7 synthetic aperture radar system produced by US-based IMSAR LLC.
Photo: Aaron Tu, Taipei Times
It is also fitted with an automatic identification system (AIS) to track suspicious vessels before conducting more detailed reconnaissance. To carry out missions at sea, pilots first conduct wide-area radar searches with a detection range of up to 340km, Apex said.
Meanwhile, pilots can use the infrared electro-optical system to lock onto sea vessels that have not activated AIS at a distance of 25km. Through the command and control intelligence platform, encrypted reconnaissance information can be instantly produced and transmitted to decisionmakers on land and at sea, giving them time to respond with greater accuracy.
Over the past six months, the Goshawk Project has detected multiple Chinese military and research vessels, according to data from Apex Aviation. In July, one of its aircraft identified a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Type 054A guided-missile frigate operating 104km northeast of Taitung County.
Apex Aviation chairman Wilson Kao (高健祐) said that maritime reconnaissance is still primarily conducted by the navy’s P-3C anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, and by navy and coast guard vessels.
However, the real challenge is in sustaining Taiwan’s reconnaissance capacity amid the frequent “gray zone” incursions by Chinese military and coast guard ships, he said.
“It takes funding and time to establish a dedicated aviation fleet to conduct marine reconnaissance tasks,” Kao said.
“With the capacity we have now, we hope to share the government’s burden and avoid unnecessary waste of costly military resources,” he said.
The project has made significant progress over the past two years, with its results to be showcased at the three-day Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition, which opens on Thursday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, the company said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS