The military has tested one of its classified missiles, a source said yesterday, without confirming if the missile was the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) that can reach targets well inside China.
In a story published yesterday morning, the Chinese-language United Daily News said that the air force launched a domestically made HF-2E surface-to-surface cruise missile with a range of 1,000km to 1,200km during a drill earlier the same day.
The newspaper included a video on its Web site of what it said was an HF-2E, adding that it flew for more than an hour from a base in Pingtung County.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
An unnamed military source confirmed that the air force fired a classified missile as part of an ongoing three-day live-fire drill off Pingtung’s Jioupeng Military Base from Tuesday to today.
The source would not confirm if the missile was an HF-2E.
They added that the air force’s main fighter jets, including Mirage-2000s, Indigenous Defense Fighters and F-16Vs, participated in the exercises and fired a number of missiles, such as French-made MICA missiles, indigenous Sky Sword II air-to-air missiles and US-made AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missiles.
Naval and coast guard vessels also participated in the drills, they said.
Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said he believed that the fired missile was the HF-2E.
Su said that he based his opinion on the video clip released by the United Daily News, which showed that the missile had a two-stage ignition process, and the report that the missile flew for about an hour.
Taiwan’s military started developing the HF-2E missile in the early 2000s to be used similarly to the US Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile.
It had never been publicly acknowledged until March last year, when the missile was mentioned in a report sent to lawmakers.
The extended-range version of the HF-2E can hit targets of up to 1,200km away, but the military has never released any photographs or videos of the missile, the report said.
The Ministry of National Defense report did not say exactly how many HF-2Es it has produced, but it said that it would be capable of making 131 HF-2s and HF-2Es annually after next year, following the expansion of its manufacturing facilities.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
RSS