The navy and air force yesterday began selecting personnel to send abroad for tactics, drone component replacement and ship-borne combat systems training in preparation for operating US-purchased platforms.
According to the Ministry of National Defense public budget report, the Navy Command Headquarters is to select two officers to visit the US, learn how to operate the combat management system for light cruisers and compile the lessons into a manual for training officers locally.
The air force is to dispatch 101 officers to the US, 65 of which are to train in tactics for F-16 jets and 36 are to train in replacing components and maintaining MQ-9B Reaper drones, the report said.
Screen grab from Lockheed Martin’s Web site
Fighter pilots are to train in the US for one year, while drone operators would stay for nine months and are expected to return by early October, it said.
The air force is also dispatching representatives to Lockheed-Martin and General Atomics, the manufacturers of the F-16 C/D block 70 jets and MQ-9B Reaper drones respectively, to ensure the platforms would be delivered on time next year and in 2027.
In October last year at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that the air force would need to make a three-phase plan to accommodate delays in F-16 deliveries.
The Reaper drone has been delayed, because legislators have questioned the military’s plan to place all four of the drones in the same hangar, putting them at risk of being destroyed in a single strike in an attack.
The committee froze NT$500 million (US$15.25 million) from the budget until the ministry issued a report addressing the situation to the legislature’s satisfaction, the ministry’s budget report for this year showed.
Separately, the navy’s light cruisers are being built domestically. The keel of an anti-air variant was laid in November last year.
Jong Shyn chairman Han Pi-hsiang (韓碧祥) said that construction of the variant has exceeded expectations and should be delivered to the navy by next year after sea trials.
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
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
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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