The military backs the six defense-related technologies listed by the government as being among Taiwan’s 22 key core technologies to face stringent controls, due to national security reasons, the Ministry of National Defense said on Tuesday.
The six defense-related technologies include military-grade carbon fiber composite; carbon/carbon composite ablation materials; and interference rejection identification friend or foe (IFF) system technologies, the ministry said.
They also include military-grade technologies of microwave/infrared/multi-mode seeker, active phased array radar, and ramjet, a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to take in air for combustion that produces jet thrust, it said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The six technologies made the list according to recommendations by the ministry’s top research unit, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), to safeguard national security, it said in a statement.
The CSIST suggested the technologies based on two criteria, the ministry said.
First, Taiwan has an advantage in domestically developing or building those technologies, and second that it was urgent that they be put under government protection, the ministry said.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the seeker technologies are particularly important.
The military-grade microwave/infrared/multi-mode seeker technology can enhance the ability of rocket and missile launch platform sensors to better identify and lock in enemy targets, including stealth aircraft, with the technology also used by fighter jets, uncrewed aerial vehicles and warships, he said.
Multi-mode seekers are being deployed for all kinds of rocket launchers, including the indigenous Hsiung Feng III supersonic anti-ship missile, Su said.
Beyond the benefits for the nation’s defense industry, the development of these key technologies can also support civilian purposes, such as applying the use of advanced infrared technology to autonomous vehicles, he said.
The six defense technologies were among 22 core technologies listed by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to be under heightened controls to prevent technology leaks and bolster industrial competitiveness.
The 22 technologies cover five industries: defense, aerospace, agriculture, semiconductors and information and communications technology, the NSTC said.
“Key technologies” refer to technologies that, if exported to China, Macau, Hong Kong or “external hostile forces,” would significantly harm national security, industrial competitiveness, or economic development, the NSTC said, citing the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Those found obtaining trade secrets related to national core key technologies by way of “theft, embezzlement, fraud, coercion, unauthorized reproduction, or other improper methods, or using and disclosing them after obtaining them,” may face up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to NT$100 million (US$3.17 million), as stipulated in the act.
SEE IC ON PAGE 12
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at