The state-run Aerospace Industry Development Corporation (AIDC) will buy next year a new high-speed target drone for use by the three services in building anti-aircraft capabilities, the AIDC said yesterday.
A model of the US-made Voodoo drone is currently on display at the 2003 Taipei Aerospace Technology Exhibition (TATE) at the Taipei World Trade Center. It is one of the items that the AIDC showcases at the exhibition held every two years.
The AIDC said the Voodoo drone might not be the best of its kind but that it is much cheaper than top-end products of its category.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The Voodoo could be used by the three services for the practice of firing of missiles against aerial targets, mainly fighter planes.
The air force is likely to be the first user since it does not have a target drone of this kind for combat pilots to test-fire air-to-air missiles.
The air force has its own target drones, which have better capabilities but are much more expensive and fewer in number.
These high-end drones are often reserved by the air force for highly difficult missile tests, but are not enough in number for general practice by combat pilots.
An official with the AIDC said under the circumstances, the air force does need to have a lower-end drone for general practice.
"The Voodoo is a high-speed drone that could meet the air force's need for testing air-to-air missiles. It could also be used by the army and navy for the tests of their air defense missiles," the official said.
"If the three services have a great need for the drone, we could produce it in Taiwan under license from the original US manufacturer," he said.
The AIDC, the developer of the IDF fighter, now earns money from a diversity of businesses, including renting target drones to the three services for missile tests.
Besides the Voodoo, the AIDC has already bought a similar drone from Britain.
The British-made Banshee drone, which is lower in speed and cost, has been used by the army in the first round of the Hankuang No. 19 exercises in mid-May in Ilan. The second round of the exercises is to be held from Sept. 1 also in Ilan.
In the mid-May exercises, the army fired vehicle-mounted Stinger missiles against a Banshee launched from a mountain in Ilan.
A defense official, who has knowledge of the test results, said it was amazing that all the Stinger missiles missed the slow-flying Banshee. The Banshee was flying only at a speed of only 190kph.
"The missiles might have missed the target because the test was aimed at finding out whether they could achieve accuracy at their maximum range," the official said.
Also at yesterday's TATE, Bell Helicopter opened a press conference to introduce its newest product, the AH-1Z attack helicopter in an attempt to compete with the Boeing-made AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter that the army is highly interested in buying.
It is generally believed that the army has already decided to buy the AH-64D.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
RSS