The Army Command Headquarters is to earmark NT$1.6 billion (US$52 million) to build a helicopter base and helicopter hangars in Taitung County and Taichung respectively to preserve the combat capability of its rotary-wing units in case of a surprise attack by China, a Ministry of National Defense official said yesterday.
Attack helicopters, including Boeing AH-64E Apaches and Bell AH-1W Super Cobras, are to be stationed at Fong Nian Air Force Base (豐年) in Taitung County and Ching Chuan Kang Air Force Base (清泉崗) in Taichung, the official said on condition of anonymity.
According to the fiscal 2019 budget sent to the Legislative Yuan for review, the army plans to establish training bases for all kinds of helicopters under the Aviation and Special Forces Command, the official said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The Taitung base would cost NT$933 million and is expected to be completed by 2023, they said.
With the establishment of the base, rotary-wing units under the command would be able to use the terrain along the coast to evacuate and preserve their combat capability in the event of a surprise attack by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the official said.
The base could also serve as a forward command center for disaster relief, they added.
The planned hangars at Ching Chuan Kang Air Force Base would cost NT$729 million and would also be completed by 2023, the official said.
The command’s AH-1W helicopters have been stationed at the base for some time, but they are “borrowing” the air force’s spare hangars, they said.
“Once we begin building the new hangars, helicopters under the command will have more appropriate storage space, as well as adequate maintenance capabilities,” the official said.
The upgrade would also cut down the maintenance hours that each unit needs, the official added.
In separate news, a senior government official yesterday said that the National Day Celebration Preparation Committee would on Thursday next week announce its arrangements for the Double Ten National Day celebrations.
As customary, several formations of the air force’s main fighter jets would fly over the Presidential Office Building in Taipei and people attending the celebrations, the official said.
As fighter jets travel fast and fly at high altitudes, the air force would also dispatch slower planes, such as Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes and Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, which would allow the public to get a closer view of them, the official added.
Weather would be the deciding factor in determining how low the planes would fly, the official said, adding that flight safety would be the top concern.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS