No injuries were reported after a multiple rocket launch system malfunctioned during live-fire exercises in Pingtung County, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The incident happened during drills at Jiupeng Military Base in Manjhou Township (滿州) when a rocket inside a Ray-Ting 2000 (Thunderbolt-2000) multiple rocket launcher failed to launch for unknown reasons, the army said in a statement.
The rocket got stuck in the launch tube and burning propellant damaged the truck carrying the launcher, the army said.
An army task force and experts from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology are investigating the cause of the malfunction, it added.
Local residents have requested an explanation from the military.
“Local residents in nearby townships are fearful of the potential danger and demand assurances that there will be no recurrence” of the incident, Manjhou Township deputy representative Ku Tsung-hsun (古宗勳) said.
The Ray-Ting 2000 is a locally developed multiple rocket artillery system, with a range of 100km. Every year from June to July, weapons technicians conduct live-fire exercises with indigenous systems at Jiupeng Military Base, a major site for weapons testing located near the southernmost tip of Taiwan.
In other news, the air force yesterday said that all wind farms in Taiwan have passed evaluations to ensure they would not affect the operations of military radar systems.
The remarks followed a news report that some ongoing wind farm projects in western Taiwan could affect nearby radar systems, jeopardizing the combat preparedness of the nation’s armed forces.
The Chinese-language United Daily News quoted an unidentified source as saying that wind turbines emit infrasound, a low-frequency noise inaudible to the human ear.
Infrasound has the potential to impact radar beams and interfere with radar systems, including anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems, the source said.
The air force has in the past few years rejected eight wind farm projects from more than 40 applications for this reason, the paper said.
Reached for comment, the air force said the government reviews the establishment of all wind farms beforehand to make sure they would not affect the operations of national defense facilities.
All approved wind farm projects have cleared reviews to make sure they would not interfere with the operations of radars, airports or missile systems, it added.
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