Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
"It is a air-to-surface missile with standoff capability which could be used in attacking the enemy's airports," Lee said during a meeting of the legislature's National Defense Committee.
Lee's comment was the first official confirmation of the development of the weapon under the "Ten Thousand Sword" plan by the ministry's Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology.
According to previous media reports, the weapon is a kind of cluster bomb, able to operate from ranges outside enemy defenses.
Lee also told lawmakers, in response to questions, that he prefers the US build the eight diesel submarines that are part of the long-delayed arms procurement budget.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
Lin noted that US Representative Rob Simmons, who visited Taipei last month, had said the price for the eight subs could drop to around US$8 billion.
"The US has not exported its subs to other countries, and I believe that US subs have many high-tech systems not known to the outside world, so I firmly believe the US can make better quality subs for Taiwan than Europe," Lee said.
Since the US has not built diesel subs for about 35 years, it plans to find a European country that is willing to build the eight subs for Taiwan once the legislature passes the procurement bill, Lee said.
However, Simmons, who met Lee last month during his visit, has said that US Electric Boat has declared itself capable and willing to produce a series of advanced diesel submarines for Taiwan.
The minister also agreed yesterday with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung's (李文忠) proposal that top sub experts from around the world be hired as consultants to decide how much money the country should pay for the eight vessels.
Only such a consultancy could resolve the current standoff, Lee Wen-chung said.
Lee Jye said the ministry would ask for a supplementary budget to cover preliminary spending on the subs, such as consultants' fees.
The ministry has previously said that the submarine budget was arrived at by the US Navy through an independent cost estimate system in January 2003, and that the US Navy has refused to negotiate on the budget before the submarine purchase is approved by the legislature.
Lee Jye said he would press the US to separate the cost of designing the subs from building them.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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