Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

[cptplt]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

Considering that the Varyag is easily ten times the size of those RN destroyers in the Falkland wars, a 200 kg warhead just isn't going to cut it. You'd need a lot of hits to even make the Varyag stop flight operations (and that's assuming you can get within range of the Varyag. Good luck trying that out on the open seas, and enough missiles get past the 052C DDG and 054A FFGs).

true the Varyag is much larger than the RN combatants but its only twice as large as the Atlantic Conveyor. What exactly do the 052 and 054 have capable of stopping a supersonic AShM??? If as planned all the Cheng Kungs and Kidds and probably another dozen smaller missile boats are fitted with HF3. even before the new class of missile boats arrive, you got yourself a potential "swarm". And do you really think the PLAN will send their one and only carrier anywhere near harms way or anywhere where it would be actually useful in a straits conflict? If I were the PLAN I would put more faith in the poor reliability of the ROC weapons than any inherent PLA ability to defend from those weapons!

 

[Skywatcher]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

true the Varyag is much larger than the RN combatants but its only twice as large as the Atlantic Conveyor. What exactly do the 052 and 054 have capable of stopping a supersonic AShM??? If as planned all the Cheng Kungs and Kidds and probably another dozen smaller missile boats are fitted with HF3. even before the new class of missile boats arrive, you got yourself a potential "swarm". And do you really think the PLAN will send their one and only carrier anywhere near harms way or anywhere where it would be actually useful in a straits conflict? If I were the PLAN I would put more faith in the poor reliability of the ROC weapons than any inherent PLA ability to defend from those weapons!

The Atlantic Conveyor and the Varyag are built to different standards. That's like comparing an Alpha Jet to an A-10 asking if a few dozen 20mm rounds would have the same impact on both warplanes.

The HQ-9 and HQ-16 can shoot down supersonic AShMs (guess what a higher flight altitude does for detection and engagement).

The FACs, Cheng Kungs and Kidds will get bombed kingdom to come before they get within range of the Varyag (the only engagement of ROCN vs. Ex-Varyag will obviously be in open waters such as the South China Sea. Try hiding surface combatants there).

And since the PLAN has no operational need or even desire to put the ex-Varyag in the Taiwan Straits, painting the HF-3 as a carrier killer is frankly a complete non sequitur.

 

[cptplt]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

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so when is the ROC MND going to send that letter back to the US DOD accepting the upgrade offer. they supposedly received it in may.

 

[Franklin]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

Taiwan is set to recieve sub launched Harpoons next year.

Subs to be equipped with Harpoon missiles next year

Taiwan’s two combat-capable submarines will be equipped with anti-ship missiles next year, providing the nation’s undersea force with a long-distance strike capability it had previously lacked.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported on Wednesday that more than 30 US-built surface-to-surface Harpoon cruise missiles would become operational on the two Hailung-class submarines sometime next year. The subsonic sea-skimming missiles, which have a range of about 125km, will bring targets along the Chinese coast within range.

The navy recently test-fired the weapons in the US in preparation for their installation on the Dutch-built submarines, the report said, citing unnamed navy sources.

A US$6.4 billion arms sale notification to US Congress in October 2008 included 32 UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles, plus two UTM-84L exercise missiles and two weapon control systems for Taiwan.

The US Department of Defense awarded a US$43.85 million defense contract to Boeing for the production and procurement of 32 Harpoon missiles for Taiwan in June 2010, with work to be completed in June last year.

The navy has declined to comment on the report, citing a policy of not discussing arms purchases with the media. Taiwan’s frigates and F-16 aircraft are already armed with Harpoon missiles.

However, integrating the Harpoon missiles requires substantial modifications to existing fire control systems and launch tubes and some defense analysts have been skeptical as to whether the Hailungs could accommodate them. Reports last year that indigenously made Hsiung Feng II cruise missiles had been test-launched on the subs were discredited soon afterwards.

However, the latest news is far more credible. The navy first announced its intention to modify the submarines so they could fire Harpoon missiles back in 2005.

Approached for comment, a retired navy officer told the Taipei Times yesterday that the project was entirely feasible.

A standalone fire control system that does not interfere with existing combat systems must be developed, the source said, adding that while it was possible to have the Harpoon fire control system integrated to current systems, doing so would require complicated engineering modification work.

In addition to the fire control systems, adjustments to the torpedo tube mechanism could be necessary to accommodate the launch of both torpedoes and the Harpoon missiles, the source said.

Another option would be to add a standalone launch tube for the Harpoons, he said.

US firm Boeing Co, which was the main contractor for the project, sent experts to Taiwan to assist the navy complete the necessary modifications on the submarines.

Additional work may also have been carried out by Raytheon Corp.

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[Semi-Lobster]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

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A 3.8 billion dollar deal to upgrade all 145 of the ROCAF's F-16's with AESA radar. "The agreement provides for Taiwan, adding advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to its fighters, as well as for making structural upgrades, improving avionics, and expanding electronic warfare suites,". So its the full upgrade package, bringing Taiwan's F-16 A/B fleet from one of the oldest and least effective to some of the most advanced. The two competitors for this tender are, of course, the Raytheon advanced combat radar (RACR) and the Northrop's Grumman's Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). Lockheed and AIDC have already to upgrade the F-16 fleets avionics jointly.

 

[druid198405]

Well I've waited a while to say this because I thought some one else might have, but with the US military choosing Lockheed to provide the AESA radar for Taiwans upgrade package what does everyone think? Will it make Taiwans F-16's effective against Chinas Airpower? Any chance they will put a similar radar on the IDF's?

 

[MwRYum]

Well I've waited a while to say this because I thought some one else might have, but with the US military choosing Lockheed to provide the AESA radar for Taiwans upgrade package what does everyone think? Will it make Taiwans F-16's effective against Chinas Airpower? Any chance they will put a similar radar on the IDF's?

IIRC the deal at this time, where the AESA package is concern, only covers the study and selection process, actual choosing a model + number of units purchased + service package + training + etc. will be covered in another contract once the study is completed. Actual upgrade schedule would depend on when will that contract be signed and enacted.

It it unlikely that the US would let the upgrading work carry out in Taiwan - due to its job-creation potentials, naturally.

As to impact on military balance...for one thing China's J-10B is the only one so far that hinted to have AESA, but that has yet be separately confirmed, furthermore there's still no sign of J-10B moved into production, thus far no more than as a technology testbed, developing component techs for the Project 718, aka the J-20). That said, AESA radar + improved avionics + AIM-120 would be a potent package...however, to truly appreciate such package ROCAF F-16s will need to deploy beyond the small airspace of the Taiwan Strait, but today's China SAM capability is very potent...

 

[cptplt]

Re: ROCN to build from seven to eleven new, stealthy Corvettes

bringing Taiwan's F-16 A/B fleet from one of the oldest and least effective to some of the most advanced. .

The block 20s were MLU equivalent and in reality even better than early C/Ds such as the block 30s. They had more advanced cockpits than any block 50 C/D built till less than 10 years ago. It wasn't till the USAF upgraded their cockpits to CCIP standard starting just before the Iraq war that they finally attained the same standard as the MLU/block 20 standard. Also LM had no suppliers for many A/B airframe components and the block 20s were actually built with many later C/D airframe parts. The only thing the block 20 loses to a 40/50 C/D is payload range due to the less powerful engine and less airframe strengthening. At altitude with an air-air weapons load out the block 20s had a higher T: W ratio than a block 50 and with lower wing loading as they were lighter and most of the -229 engines higher thrust advantage was only at sea level TO thrust and also 40/50s have several thousand pounds more empty airframe weight to carry around. These advantages were why the Conus block 20s kept at Luke were thrashing block 40/50s and navy /marine F18s regularly in exercises. By selling a "A/B" the US maintained the fiction of not giving Taiwan the "best" but in reality in many ways the block 20s were better than the off the shelf 40/50s in '92 except for air- ground where it was short on payload range.

 

[cptplt]

First Apaches delivered.

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so it wasn't such a bad thing to wait for the block 3/E after all!

 

[cptplt]

Two more FFGs
Are they going to upgrade all the OHPs to SM2 and will these be delivered with the Mk13 launcher, the last TW manufactured OHP actually used a Mk13 launcher taken off a USN one when USN retired the Mk13.
Didn't USN stop supporting SM1 already?



TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to buy two warships from the U.S. as part of an effort to modernize its naval force amid a perceived military threat from China, Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu said Nov. 5.

The two Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, now serving in the U.S. Navy, will be delivered to Taiwan by 2015, Kao said while answering questions in parliament.

“The Defence Ministry has decided to take the two Perry-class frigates. It is a good bargain,” Kao added, according to a statement released by Lin Yu-fang, the legislator who raised the question.

The two warships, estimated to cost a total of about 7 billion Taiwanese dollars ($240 million), will replace two of eight aging Knox-class frigates that Taiwan acquired in the early 1990s, Kao said.

Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service in September amid escalating tensions over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea, which Taiwan also claims.

Ties between Taiwan and its former rival China have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became president in 2008 on a platform of ramping up trade and tourism links. Ma was re-elected in January for a second four-year term. Despite the warmer relations, China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which has governed itself since 1949, and has vowed to get it back — by force if necessary — even though the island has ruled itself for more than 60 years.