The navy's plan to build a mini-AEGIS ship -- which has been shelved for eight years -- is likely to be resumed if local shipbuilders prove they can handle the task, defense sources have said.
The mini-AEGIS building plan, known in the navy as the Advanced Combat System (ACS) project, would not, however, be the same plan as that initially drafted in the late 1980s, if it were to be revived.
The state-run China Shipbuilding Corp, which was the navy's only choice for the building of the mini-AEGIS before the project was put on hold, now has to start from scratch and prove to the navy that it can build such a ship.
The ACS project was stopped in 1994 when Admiral Nelson Ku (顧崇廉) was the commander-in-chief of the navy. Ku has retired from the navy and is now a lawmaker with the PFP.
Ku is generally believed to have played a key role in the shelving of the ACS project, which led him to become the target for criticism every time the ACS issue was brought up.
But former defense minister Wu Shih-wen (世文), who followed in Ku's footsteps to take charge of the navy, hinted in an interview published in the latest issue of the Defence International magazine that his role in the matter might have been no less significant. Wu was the deputy chief of the general staff while Ku was the navy chief.
Regardless of who was responsible for holding up the ACS project, many naval officials share the same view that the navy missed a good chance to own an indigenously-built advanced fighting ship before 2000.
According to the initial plan, the mini-AEGIS would have been built in 50 months. If construction had started in 1994, it could have become operational before 2000.
The ACS project was originally drafted by a group of highly-educated naval officials led by the late Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清風).
Yin, who was then head of the research and development department at navy general headquarters, was in charge of the case from the beginning.
He completed the draft of the project before he was transferred to lead the weaponry procurement office of the navy general headquarters.
Yin was murdered in late 1993, but the navy was ready by then to start construction of the mini-AEGIS on the basis of the Chenkung-class frigate that China Shipbuilding had built for it.
The plan at the time was to lengthen the hull of the Chenkung-class frigate by 50m so that the ship would have enough room for more weapon systems and larger equipment.
The hardware recommended for installation in the mini-AEGIS included: A smaller version of the SPY-1 phased array radar, a five-inch gun, a vertical launch system for the Standard SM-II missile or the locally-developed TC-II missile, a Harpoon anti-ship missile and a towed sonar.
The list might have to be changed if the ACS is revived since the design is over 10 years old.
* The mini-AEGIS building plan is known as the Advanced Combat System project.
* China Shipbuilding Corp was chosen to build the ship.
* The ACS project was halted in 1994.
Source: Taipei Times
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS