The Ta Chiang, an upgraded version of the navy’s Tuo Chiang-class missile corvette, is to be delivered this month, one month ahead of schedule, a military source said yesterday.
The 685-tonne Ta Chiang is the first in a planned series of high-performance ships modeled after the Tuo Chiang, the source said.
The navy is to conduct evaluations in the next few days before accepting the ship, the source added.
The Ta Chiang is heavier than its predecessor’s 567 tonnes after anti-aircraft weapons were added to the original design at the navy’s request, the source said.
The guided-missile corvette is equipped with two eight-cell Sky Sword II anti-aircraft missile launchers, instead of two six-cell launchers as reported by media, the source said, confirming an image of the ship taken by outside observers.
Other armament include Brave Wind II and Brave Wind III surface-to-surface anti-ship missiles, among others, the source said.
As the Ta Chiang’s tonnage, equipment and systems have been beefed up substantially compared with the Tuo Chiang’s original design, the planned missile corvettes might be designated as Ta Chiang-class instead of Tuo Chiang-class, the source added.
The Ministry of National Defense has yet to make a decision on the issue, the source said.
Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光) reportedly visited Lung Teh Shipbuilding Co and CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s shipyards yesterday, his last day as the chief of the general staff, in a display of his attention to the program.
In other news, after a six-month training program, six UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters received last year by the National Airborne Service Corps are this month to be deployed for rescue missions.
The ministry has allocated 15 of the 60 Black Hawk helicopters purchased from the US to the corps to be used in airborne search-and-rescue missions.
The final batch of six helicopters earmarked for the corps arrived at Kaohsiung Harbor in October last year, the corps said in a statement.
They have since been painted red and stationed in Kaohsiung, the corps said.
The helicopter brigade has spent the past six months training so that their crew can conduct day and nighttime search missions at sea, the corps said.
Crew have also enhanced their mid-air rescue capabilities, it said.
The helicopters are equipped with forward-looking infrared imaging systems, as well as searchlights, and radar and satellite communication systems.
Their addition is a huge boost to the nation’s airborne search-and-rescue capabilities, the corps said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
RSS