A small number of cruise missiles, the Hsiung Feng II-E (Brave Wind), will go into production this month, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) reported yesterday.
"The Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles would be swiftly deployed on Taiwan's west coast. Cities in southeastern China and more than 20 of China's main military bases in southwestern China" would be within range of the missiles, the paper said.
It said the Hsiung Feng II-E missile would be able to be launched from land, sea or air. If the missiles were deployed on outlaying islands, Shanghai would be within range, it said.
Meanwhile, other Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday the nation's first national security report will suggest the military adjust its strategy by buying and developing more offensive weapons to deter China's military threat against Taiwan, the newspapers said.
The report will say that given that the US is willing to consider selling Taiwan offensive weapons, the military should adjust its arms-procurement lists, the papers said. The report will say that the country will never develop nuclear, biochemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction.
A Chinese-language newspaper reported last month that the military had successfully tested a 1,000km-range cruise missile, the Hsiung Feng II-E.
The Liberty Times, however, said the military would initially produce 600km-range missiles because more work was needed on turbo-generators capable of powering longer-range missiles.
According to the paper, the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which is in charge of missile-production programs, estimated it would produce advanced turbo-generator-equipped cruise missiles with a 1,000km-range by next year.
The paper said the military decided to quickly deploy the shorter-range missiles because of the increasing threat from China.
The paper said the new cruise missile still needs to have its guidance system enhanced. It said the US has yet to agree to sell a global positioning system (GPS) for military use to Taiwan. As a result, the new missiles would initially be equipped with a GPS system designed for businesses and with Russia's GLONESS positioning system to enhance their positioning capability, it said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS