The navy on Monday held a launch ceremony in Yilan County for its fifth domestically built Tuo Chiang-class corvette, officially christening it the An Chiang (安江), a military source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The navy would soon take delivery of the fifth homemade vessel after it is tested by Lungteh Shipbuilding Co, the source said, adding that the ship was named after the Annong River (安農溪) in Yilan.
A prototype of the Tuo Chiang-class corvette, the PGG-618, was commissioned in 2015.
Photo: CNA
The first completed corvette, the Ta Chiang (塔江), was launched in December 2020.
The second Tuo Chiang-class ship, the Fu Chiang (富江), was launched in September last year, while the third, the Hsu Chiang (旭江), was launched in February, and the fourth, the Wu Chiang (武江), was launched in June.
The navy is to build 11 corvettes by the end of 2026.
The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes are fitted with subsonic Hsiung Feng-II (HF-2) missiles, supersonic Hsiung Feng-III (HF-3) anti-ship missiles, a 76mm cannon and Sea Sword II carrier-based medium-range air defense missiles, giving them the ability to hit air and sea targets simultaneously.
Based on a recent Ministry of National Defense report presented to the Legislative Yuan, aside from the prototype, five of the corvettes are to be fitted with eight subsonic HF-2 missiles and four supersonic HF-3 anti-ship missiles, while the other five warships are to come with four HF-2s and eight HF-3s.
That configuration would help meet the operational needs of the navy, the report said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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