A small number of the newly developed Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles have already been deployed around the nation, and up to 100 of the missiles will be manufactured within the next eight years, military sources said.
The missiles will be deployed in Taiwan proper as well as on its outlying islands, they said.
The locally developed Hsiung Feng II-E has a range of up to 1,000km and can be launched from land, sea or air. The range depends upon the type of engine used.
The missile had been slated to be a part of this year's National Day military display, but was pulled from the display after the US expressed strong concern.
Sources said that future production of the Hsiung Feng would be divided into two phases. The first phase will utilize turbo jet engines, giving the missiles a range of about 500km, although these missiles will be referred to by the military as belonging to the 600km class.
The second stage of the project will utilize more efficient turbo fan engines being developed by the Ministry of National Defense-affiliated Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology. In addition to increasing the range of the missiles, the engine is also expected to increase their accuracy.
However, the sources said that the whole Hsiung Feng mass production project could be put in jeopardy if the institute failed to develop a suitable turbo fan engine.
They said that while many key components needed for weapons production originate from the US, the number of components approved for export by Washington has dwindled in the past six months.
This has affected the nation's Hsiung Feng II, Hsiung Feng III and Hsiung Feng II-E missiles, as well as other advanced weapons, they said.
The Chungshan Institute is seeking to remedy the situation by working on developing weapons components domestically as well as seeking non-US sources of components from abroad, sources said.
Researchers have so far been cautiously optimistic, but it remains to be seen whether or not US components can be successfully replaced, the sources said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS