Taiwan is to buy 400 Harpoon Block II missiles and 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems in one batch by 2028, not separately as originally intended, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday.
Chiu made the statement in response to media queries before attending a session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, adding that the decision was made in light of the rising threat from China, along with other considerations.
The Block II anti-ship missiles would supplement the capabilities of other missiles in service, he said.
Washington in October last year approved a possible sale to Taiwan of up to 100 Harpoon coastal defense systems and related equipment for about US$2.37 billion.
The package is to include 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II surface-launched missiles, four RTM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II exercise missiles, 411 containers, 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense System launcher transporter units, 25 radar trucks and related logistics services and support, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said last year.
Meanwhile, the first indigenous Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) to emerge from production took to the skies at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung on Thursday.
Manufactured by the partially government owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), the trainer with serial number 11003 made its debut test flight accompanied by one of the company’s two AJT prototypes.
A Ministry of National Defense report delivered to the Legislature in September said that the AIDC plans to complete the production of two AJTs by the end of this year.
Sixty-six AJTs are expected to be delivered to the military by 2026, the report said.
The AJT project was initiated in 2017 to replace the military’s decades-old AT-3 trainer aircraft and F-5E/F lead-in fighter trainers.
Two AJT prototypes have since been built, and public test flights of the two planes were conducted last year in June and December.
The development of the jet trainer, codenamed Yung Ying or “Brave Eagle,” was carried out as part of the country’s efforts to become more militarily self reliant.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
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