Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

cptplt said:

Two more FFGs
Are they going to upgrade all the OHPs to SM2 and will these be delivered with the Mk13 launcher, the last TW manufactured OHP actually used a Mk13 launcher taken off a USN one when USN retired the Mk13.
Didn't USN stop supporting SM1 already?

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cptplt said:

Two more FFGs
Are they going to upgrade all the OHPs to SM2 and will these be delivered with the Mk13 launcher, the last TW manufactured OHP actually used a Mk13 launcher taken off a USN one when USN retired the Mk13.
Didn't USN stop supporting SM1 already?



TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to buy two warships from the U.S. as part of an effort to modernize its naval force amid a perceived military threat from China, Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu said Nov. 5.

The two Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, now serving in the U.S. Navy, will be delivered to Taiwan by 2015, Kao said while answering questions in parliament.

“The Defence Ministry has decided to take the two Perry-class frigates. It is a good bargain,” Kao added, according to a statement released by Lin Yu-fang, the legislator who raised the question.

The two warships, estimated to cost a total of about 7 billion Taiwanese dollars ($240 million), will replace two of eight aging Knox-class frigates that Taiwan acquired in the early 1990s, Kao said.

Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service in September amid escalating tensions over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea, which Taiwan also claims.

Ties between Taiwan and its former rival China have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became president in 2008 on a platform of ramping up trade and tourism links. Ma was re-elected in January for a second four-year term. Despite the warmer relations, China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which has governed itself since 1949, and has vowed to get it back — by force if necessary — even though the island has ruled itself for more than 60 years.

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Franklin said:

I don't understand why Taiwan is buying these old OHP class frigates from the US when they have a licence to build them on Taiwan. They already build eight of them called Cheng Kung class locally. So why are they spending good money to buy thirty year old ships from the US ? While if they build it them selfs it would have provided thousands of jobs and they would have gotten new ships as well.

And do you remenber those four Kee Lung (ex-Kidd) class destroyers that Taiwan got back around 2006 from the US ? Well, i have read that those systems in the upgrade package that America has sold to Taiwan are now no longer in use in the USN and that means that the US are no longer producing or storing spare parts for these systems. All the spare parts that Taiwan is getting for their Kee Lung class destroyers comes from cannibalizing decommissioned ships. This is a serious issue and that may in part help to explain why those ships don't go to sea often.

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Franklin said:

I don't understand why Taiwan is buying these old OHP class frigates from the US when they have a licence to build them on Taiwan. They already build eight of them called Cheng Kung class locally. So why are they spending good money to buy thirty year old ships from the US ? While if they build it them selfs it would have provided thousands of jobs and they would have gotten new ships as well.

And do you remenber those four Kee Lung (ex-Kidd) class destroyers that Taiwan got back around 2006 from the US ? Well, i have read that those systems in the upgrade package that America has sold to Taiwan are now no longer in use in the USN and that means that the US are no longer producing or storing spare parts for these systems. All the spare parts that Taiwan is getting for their Kee Lung class destroyers comes from cannibalizing decommissioned ships. This is a serious issue and that may in part help to explain why those ships don't go to sea often.

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Taiwan test-fires new ‘carrier killer’ anti-ship missile

Taiwan’s top military research institute last month test-fired a powerful new anti-ship missile that could send a strong signal to China as it launches its first aircraft carrier, a reports said yesterday.

According to the Chinese-language United Daily News, the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology completed a series of tests of the missile, which has been referred to as a variant of the Hsiung Feng III (HF-3) anti-ship missile.

The HF-3, showcased at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in August last year as a “carrier killer,” is a ramjet-powered, 120kg payload supersonic anti-ship missile with an estimated range of between 130km and 150km and a maximum speed of Mach 2, or about twice the speed of sound.

Because of their limited range, HF-3s deployed on ground launchers along the west coast of Taiwan are unable to reach certain targets across the Taiwan Strait or out at sea, and force ships armed with the missile to come dangerously close to their targets, thus exposing them to strikes before they can launch an attack.

The variant, which the Ministry of National Defense, citing protocol on weapons development, refused to discuss, is reported to have a range of 400km and is capable of reaching Mach 3.

Quoting an unnamed defense industry source, the US-based Defense News reported in April that Taiwan was developing a new type of anti-ship cruise missile that, once operational, would be deployed on the east coast and directed across the Strait at the Chinese coast. Such positioning would use mountain range cover against Chinese missiles while still bringing targets navigating the Strait within range. It would also extend the range within which land-based launchers can attack vessels in the Western Pacific.

The reports did not provide a payload for the variant, though a payload greater than 120kg would be necessary for it to constitute a real threat to aircraft carriers.

The news comes about one month after the Chinese military commissioned the Liaoning, its first aircraft carrier, following years of refurbishing work on a Ukraine-built hull formerly known as the Varyag.

The Chinese defense ministry only officially confirmed late last month that naval pilots on board indigenously built J-15 aircraft had conducted “touch-and-go” exercises last month as they learn to operate at sea.

The Liaoning embarked on a 19-day sea exercise on Sunday, during which pilots will reportedly conduct further landings.

In addition to the Liaoning, military analysts believe China is developing two or three aircraft carriers, with a possible entry into service as early as 2020.

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Pointblank said:

More than likely, an upgrade using the experience drawn from the Australian Adelaide class frigates or the Turkish G class frigate upgrades.

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asif iqbal said:

Taiwan has reported that China has 2 aircrafts carriers under construction but as before no proof no doubt its probably political motivated reports picked up by Western journalist

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The head of an American think tank suggested Thursday that Taiwan should purchase submarines to strengthen its naval deployment amid the growing military imbalance between Taiwan and China.

Taiwan can put pressure on the Chinese armed forces with a stronger naval defense that includes submarines, argued Scott Bates, president of the Washington-based Center for National Policy (CNP), at a panel discussion in which he and two other U.S. scholars shared their observations from a trip to Taiwan in early December.

"It seems this (submarine) is a perfect naval asset for the defense of Taiwan in the protection of freedom and navigation in the Straits, in the South China and in the East China seas. And the current array of submarine forces that Taiwan has is not up to achieving those missions," Bates said.

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navyreco said:

Submarines recommended as way for Taiwan to better deter China

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Same recuring problem however: Who will be willing to sell them?

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