The navy is eyeing Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawks to replace Hughes MD-500 Defenders as the anti-submarine warfare helicopter carried by its next generation of guided-missile frigates, a Ministry of National Defense source said on Monday.
The MD-500 Defenders entered service in 1977 and are the standard helicopter used on Chi Yang-class frigates, a source said on condition of anonymity.
The navy plans to complete 15 of the guided-missile frigates that will succeed the Chi Yang-class frigates by 2025, the source said.
Photo: Reuters
As the new frigates enter service, the navy plans to simultaneously phase out Chi Yang-class ships and the MD-500 with a more modern rotary-wing aircraft, they said.
The MH-60R Seahawks are pegged as the most likely successor to the MD-500 Defenders because the government has received messages from Washington conveying an interest in reviving an older offer to sell the helicopters, the source said.
The government had previously rejected an offer from the US for eight MH-60R helicopters due to cost considerations, but the US government’s latest message indicate a willingness to lower the price, they said.
The navy has two types of anti-submarine warfare helicopters in service, the MD-500 and the Sikorsky S-70C(M).
While Taiwan procured the S-70C(M) commercially, the MH-60R is likely to be acquired in a state-to-state arms deal, the source said.
Compared with the S-70C(M), the MH-60R has superior engine power, a longer loiter time and a wider selection of weaponry.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
RSS