Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Taiwan's main weapons research and development unit released videos and photos of the trial launch of its Hsiung Feng III and Tien Kung III missiles for the first time Tuesday, indicating that Taiwan is competing with China in developing their own supersonic anti-ship missiles.

The images of the Hsiung Feng III supersonic anti-ship missiles and Tien Kung III surface-to-air missiles were unveiled by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology at its headquarters in Longtan, Taoyuan county, Taiwan.

Taiwan's Chengkung-class frigates and Chinchiang-class corvettes have already been fitted with the Hsiung Feng III missiles.

The 502-ton Tuo Chiang, Taiwan's first locally designed stealth missile corvette, will also be equipped with the missiles in the future, according to military sources.

The release of the images came as China also unveiled its new CX-1 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile at the recent Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, showing that both countries are placing emphasis on supersonic anti-ship missiles.

The Hsiung Feng III, with a top speed of Mach 2.5-3.0 and a range of 150km, is expected to constitute a serious threat to China's advanced vessels, including its aircraft carriers.

China's CX-1 missile, which is similar to the Russian-made P-800 Oniks, has a range of between 40km and 280km, with a top speed of Mach 2.8-3.0 at high altitude and Mach 2.2-2.4 at low altitude.

The CX-1, a product of the Chinese Academy of Launch Technology (CALT), as displayed at Zhuhai, indicates that the missile comes in two variants; the CX-1A ship-borne system and the CX-1B road-mobile land-based system, according to the Defense News.

Su Kuan-chuan, editor of the Taipei-based Chinese-language Defense International, said supersonic missiles, with characteristics of being able to change trajectory and fly at low altitude, are very difficult to intercept, allowing them to effectively penetrate the air-defense network of any fleet.

They are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice of many nations in their anti-ship operations, he added.

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The current plan is to use the old blueprints to commence building the four 6,000-tonne Aegis ships by 2020. The Tuo River class or Hsun Hai-class corvette, currently udnergoing sea trials and is expected to be deployed in the first half of 2015, is also said to be one of the 10-15 2,000-tonne frigates under the project.

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Taiwan intends to build its own fleet of warships and frigates equipped with the powerful Aegis Combat System over the next 15 years, reports Hong Kong-magazine Yazhou Zhoukan.

The fleet, which will be developed domestically, will include four 6,000-tonne Aegis-equipped warships and another 10-15 2,000-tonne Aegis-equipped guided missile frigates, the report said.

The project, which was initially abandoned back in 1995, has reportedly been reactivated due to lower costs and concerns over the the significant improvements made to the People's Liberation Army Navy, including the introduction of its own aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, as well as larger, heavier and more powerful vessels. As a result, the ROC Navy is said to be determined to be become more flexible and make strides in speed, technology, stealth capabilities, missile launch capabilities and reconnaisance speed.

According to the report, the ROC Navy invested US$100 million with the United States around 20 years ago to develop a frigate similar to Spain's F-100 class, and another US$300 million to jointly develop the Aegis Combat System, now produced by American defense company Lockheed Martin. But Taiwan decided to suspend the project in 1995 following repeated calls from the US side to increase the investment, though several vessel designs are reportedly still in the hands of the Taiwanese government.

Taiwan began reconsidering the project after Spain commissioned its F-100 class frigate and received orders from Australia and Norway. Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology also experienced success in phased array radar-based combat system integration tests and secured breakthroughs in procuring vertical missile launching systems from the US.

The current plan is to use the old blueprints to commence building the four 6,000-tonne Aegis ships by 2020. The Tuo River class or Hsun Hai-class corvette, currently udnergoing sea trials and is expected to be deployed in the first half of 2015, is also said to be one of the 10-15 2,000-tonne frigates under the project.

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Zetageist said:

I came across this article sort of odd because no other media has report this and the Tuo River class or Hsun Hai-class corvette isn't supposed to be only 500 tons?



Taiwan building own Aegis fleet to take on China: report

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Original article in Chinese:

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Skywatcher said:

Earlier reports of the ROCN 15 year plan said that those would be SWATH frigate sized warships (looks like larger versions of the Tuo River). And the F-100 frigate is about 4,000-5,000 tons, so I think something got jumbled in translation. And the destroyers would be larger than the Kidds, apparently.

Regardless, even with a 3% GDP defense budget, Taiwan can't buy 4 DDGs, 15 FFGs, 8 SSKs and two LPDs unless the ROCN becomes the only military service.

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Zetageist said:

The alternative would be French's fire sale of 2 Mistral helicopter carriers for a mere €1.15 billion euro since France is still owing Taiwan money for the Lafayette fiasco.

'Buy the set!': Mistral warships go 'on sale' in Russian & French spoof ads

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Skywatcher said:

Not to mention that the Mistrals aren't going to last very long in a shooting war, unless they get parked on the east coast of Taiwan.

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Bltizo said:

Building 2000 ton aegis frigates would be an interesting dispersal of resources. Certainly I would be impressed at their creative flair if nothing else.


I wonder if they actually want the aegis combat system from lockmart or if they just mean an aegis type ship. I imagine they have the know how to build a modern aegis type ship, and china would probably express displeasure if the US sold something like the aegis combat system to ROCN simply for the principle of the thing.

Building four 6000 ton aegis ships starting in 2020 though? Useful in replacing the kidd's, but not really useful in turning the tide vis a vis cross strait naval balance. I'd invest in mines, FACs and shore based AShMs instead.

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FORBIN said:

I am quite sure... absolutely impossible and Taiwan don' t need it for expeditionary forces.

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