Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Most likely, we'll have to wait until after the Summer Olympics, possibly even after the November election to see what's going on.

In the mean time, here's a good article on US Arms export agreements and deliveries over the past 10 years:


If you check pages CRS-7 to CRS-9, you can see the ROC military preference for brand new systems like M1A2, AH064D, UH-60M, and Arleigh Burke class DDG's. Unfortunately, being brand new (and expensive) systems, these purchases were highly controversial. In comparison, if you look at CRS-15 to CRS-16, upgrades to existing systems (PAC2 GEM), was easier to obtain. This is why I advocate "plan B" with upgrades/rebuilds to existing systems, as funding domestic programs.

On CRS-50, it's interesting to note an entry under 11/23/1993 for Mk.41 VLS system, vaued at $103 million USD. Wonder where this one went?

Here's proposed US exports to various countries in 2007, including TW:


In previous posts I've suggested the ROCA to obtain M109A6 SEP upgrade. But note in 2007 the US was exportign M109A5 to Morocco. To date only the US use M109A6 Paladin with no exports. I suspect perhaps the upgraded variant is not avail for export.

Don't know if I'm reading this correctly, but does the thing say that even though it will become an all volunteer force, basic training for all males reaching 18 will still be necessary even after the restructuring to all volunteer?


Alternative service needed
DOWNSIZING?: The MOI said citizens could work off their military duties in other ways, including service at high-tech companies, schools or government agencies

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Aug 02, 2008, Page 4

Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) said yesterday the nation’s alternative military service would still be necessary even after the country adopts an all-volunteer military force.

The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) head made the remarks one day after the military said it would adopt an all-volunteer system as soon as 2014 to fulfill an election pledge made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) earlier this year.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) would plan to implement the volunteer system beginning in 2010, decreasing the number of conscripts by 10 percent annually, Minister of Defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) said on Thursday.

Under the ministry’s plan, those who do not volunteer for military service would still need to receive three or four months of basic military training.

The ministry would aim to maintain a 200,000-member force, down from more than 300,000 at present.

Liao told reporters after speaking to alternative service conscripts at a ceremony held at a military training base in Taichung County yesterday that he hoped alternative military service would remain in the future.

He said the 80,000 to 100,000 male citizens in Taiwan unwilling to volunteer for military service every year would be able to fulfill their military duties by receiving military training in schools or participating in alternative service.

Taiwan now has 14,000 to 16,000 alternative service conscripts serving at local schools, fire departments and high-tech companies, the MOI said.

Some of them have also been serving at government agencies in the fields of sports, diplomacy, tourism, medicine, culture and environmental protection.

Liao argued that such service prevents the waste of human resources or time.

For example, he said allowing alternative service conscripts to serve at local technology companies can both meet the companies’ needs for technology and people, while helping the conscripts keep their skills up to date.

The MOI also launched a program last year to help disadvantaged children with their school studies, with more than 400 alternative service conscripts joining the program this summer to assist more than 1,700 children.

Also yesterday, the defense minister said that Taiwan would follow the US and Japan in switching to an all-volunteer military, but added that further planning for financing military spending and restructuring the troops is needed.

At present, Taiwan’s conscription system targets males over the age of 18. Starting on Jan. 1 this year, Taiwan cut military service to one year.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said yesterday that the MND should first solve existing problems before adopting an all-volunteer force. Many people find it difficult to adjust to military life after volunteering to become soldiers or officers, he said.

I'd like to see a mixed volunteer and conscript "national guard reserve" system.

If you volunteer, you're a paid professional solider and sign a contract for x number of years. Upon exiting military career you get GI-bill type educational subsidies for college and work related training. Some of the "alternative service" type jobs mentioned above can also be allocated to soldiers who completed their service.

If you don't volunteer, you go to basic training for few months, then enter the national guard reserve where you report for drill one weekend per month, plus 2 weeks per year for x number of years. The "conscript" can be paid a little "allowance money" for time served.

For those who are unsuitable for military serve, you can put them in alternative service programs.

Hm....Yea, I guess I'd like to see that too. But with the government cutting costs and refusing to increase national defence I doubt that will happen.

If you watch Taiwan TV, the military is saving water.......by washing plates, dishes, chopsticks and others with three buckets of water. Through the process of placing the plate in the first bucket for a little while, then with detergent in the second bucket and then rinsing with the third bucket......Some military personnel says the cutlery still feels oily after being "washed". I am simply gobsmacked on the "saving" of water. Theres a line drawn in the middle between saving and stupidity. The administration/military has crossed that line.

Defense News
August 18, 2008
Taiwan To Modify Its Defense Strategy
By Wendell Minnick
TAIPEI — In an effort to placate Beijing and Washington, Taiwan’s new Nationalist Party (KMT) administration is debating a defense strategy that could abandon offshore offensive missions capable of striking mainland China. 

Taiwan’s defense strategy is guided by the long-held concepts of resolute defense and effective deterrence. The former is basically a political statement indicating Taiwan’s determination to resist Chinese military aggression; the latter refers to a commitment to create and maintain a military capable of destroying China’s ability to invade Taiwan. But how to achieve these strategies has been debated for years. 

The principal debate is over the so-called offshore engagement strategy that would take the fight to the enemy. It would employ limited offensive missions, including F-16 airstrikes, against China during an invasion and would develop offensive missile systems like the Hsiung Feng 2E cruise missile and short-to-medium-range ballistic missiles. 

During the recent election, Ma Ying-jeou, now president, promised “no unification, no independence and no use of force.” “No use of force” is interpreted as no offensive operations against mainland China. In line with Ma’s “Hard ROC” defense policy, the new defense strategy is expected to emphasize surviving a sudden attack by improving air defenses, strengthening bunkers and aircraft shelters, improving firewalls for command-and-control hubs, and upgrading land warfare rapid response capabilities. 

But the debate is ongoing, and the Ma administration is not expected to make a public announcement until February, when the Quadrennial Defense Review is released. 

“Now we are in a period of debate and inspiration, especially in the next two months,” one Taiwan defense specialist here said. “How the ‘Hard ROC’ concept would be ‘authoritatively’ translated into programs, budgets, force structures and investments remain to be seen.” Ma has promised a defense budget increase of 3 percent of gross domestic product. 

The administration has been pushing Washington to release arms notifications to Congress for the sale of $11 billion in U.S. weapons to Taiwan — eight submarines, 30 AH-64D Apache attack and 60 UH60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, and six Patriot Advanced Capability-3 air defense missile batteries. 

However, Ma might reject subs and sub-launched Harpoon missiles in line with new strategies. The proposed design phase for the sub program is estimated at $360 million, and those funds could go into other defense projects that would produce more immediate results. 

Su Chi, new secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC) here, has publicly opposed the procurement of subs. In a January 2006 opinion piece on soft power and defense published in the Chinese-language United Daily News, Su said the submarine delivery would take 10 years and the money could be better spent elsewhere. 

Buying Goodwill? 

There are fears China could attack should the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) retake the presidency in 2012. 

The real motivation for the new strategy, according to Michael Pillsbury, a Pentagon consultant on China’s military, is to placate China in the hopes of getting concessions. 

“This is part of the larger strategy of showing goodwill to Beijing and the U.S.,” he said. 

There are fears Taiwan will forgo requests to buy new F-16s in another attempt to improve ties with Beijing, Pillsbury said. 

“Will this goodwill gesture to China be believed? Will Beijing see this as a major concession? ‘We [Taiwan] are not going to buy hardware that can be used to attack you,’” he said. “Will China reciprocate?” Pillsbury attended an Aug. 9 defense conference here hosted by the DPP-supported Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies (ITDSS). York Chen, an ITDSS researcher who was a member of the NSC under the former DPP administration, presented a paper arguing that Ma’s change in strategy would endanger Taiwan’s security. 

Outside of the conference, Pillsbury said China must respond by reducing the number of short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, reducing the number of fighter and naval ship patrols along the centerline of the Taiwan Strait, and toning down diplomatic efforts to isolate Taiwan on the international stage. But Ma could end up getting no concessions from China, while irreversibly weakening Taiwan’s military and lessening the likelihood of U.S. military support. 

Ma’s long-term goal is a peace pact with China under which Taiwan would pledge not to declare independence and China would agree not to use military force.

So much for we are dedicated to maintaining military spending, and keeping it at 3% of the GDP. Lies and more lies....(sorry just a bit angry about the news)
=========================================================
Next year’s budget approved, defense spending gets cut
ALLOCATIONS: The head of the DGBAS was unwilling to discuss details of the reduction in the Ministry of National Defense’s budget because of confidentiality
By Shih Hsiu-Chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 22, 2008, Page 3

The Executive Yuan approved the 2009 budget statement yesterday, with the budget for national defense the only one to suffer cuts.

The brief version of the budget statement said national defense spending would be NT$10.4 billion (US$331 million) lower than the amount earmarked for this year.

“This is because we are still negotiating the arms procurement deal [with the US],” Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) said without elaborating.

Shih would not say whether she was referring to the US$11 billion arms package or a plan to purchase 66 F 16C/D fighters at an estimated cost of US$5 billion.

“We write the budget to reflect reality, but for confidentiality reasons I cannot provide details,” she said.

The central government’s budget estimates from next year stated that cash inflow would increase by NT$84.9 billion to NT$1.7052 trillion, while spending would go up NT$118.3 billion to NT$1.7117 trillion.

“The increased spending will focus on education, technology, culture, the economy and benefits for the poor,” Shih said.

The budget earmarked for the “i-Taiwan 12 projects,” one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) major economic plans was NT$107.3 billion, NT$65.3 billion of which would go toward building a transportation network around the country.

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that because of limited budgets, the Cabinet had incorporated as many items from the i-Taiwan 12 plan into the statement as possible.

Meanwhile, the government estimated that state-owned firms would suffer a loss of NT$27.3 billion next year because of the increase in electricity prices.

Ma’s election platform proposed putting NT$3.99 trillion into the ambitious “i-Taiwan 12 projects” over the next eight years to boost the economy.

The 12 infrastructure projects include linking rapid transit networks in cities and counties across the country, enhancing flood control measures, forestation, revitalizing farmland and marine areas, and turning Taoyuan into an “airport city.”

kliu0 said:

The budget earmarked for the “i-Taiwan 12 projects,” one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) major economic plans was NT$107.3 billion, NT$65.3 billion of which would go toward building a transportation network around the country.

Click to expand...

;; He's pulling a Chiang Ching-Kuo.

Anyone remember "Ten major construction projects" (十大建設) ?

I remember that, but nothing can beat the old Chiang Ching Kuo, he was a true president who cared about his people. Too bad he died, he was a really simple man with simple values.

Ma Ying Jeou lied to our faces, he should face it that no one can be the new Chiang Ching Kuo.

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced an $89.7 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for 60 tactical Harpoon Air Launched All-Up-Rounds for Taiwan. The missiles are expected to be outfitted on 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft released to Taiwan in 2007. The contract was awarded to Boeing on Aug. 25 by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.

The Harpoon release is considered a positive development after the Bush administration froze U.S. arms deals with Taipei until after the Olympic Games in Beijing. There have been fears the United States would maintain the hold until after Bush leaves office in January.

There were additional rays of hope on Aug. 21, when Washington released two small FMS contracts - the first to California-based Universal Propulsion for digital recovery sequencers in support of the Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device, and a second to Florida-based BAE Systems Technical Services for the Instrumentation Radar Support Program.

With the recent announcements, there are high expectations the United States will release a long-stalled $12 billion arms package that includes six Patriot PAC-3 batteries, a feasibility study for eight diesel submarines, submarine-launched Harpoon missiles, 30 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters and 60 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Click to expand...