Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Mr T

Mr T

Senior Member
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France has compensated Taiwan for engine damage to its Mirage 2000s, and the fighter jets have since been returned to their normal training operations, Air Force officials said.

Ger Hsi-hsiung (葛熙熊), chief of staff of the Air Force, made the remarks at a legislative meeting last week in response to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who first brought the issue to light last October, saying that the Air Force had considered suspension of operations of its Mirage fleet because of engine damage.

The Air Force regulates that each Mirage pilot fly 15 hours monthly, but because of the damaged fighters, Mirage pilots were only able to maintain eight hours of training operations from September to December last year.

Ger told the legislative meeting that the Air Force had later reached a deal with France in which the latter had agreed to supply the aircraft’s Snecma M53-P2 turbofan engines and that the fighter squadron, since January, has returned to its regular monthly 15 hours of training operations.

Lin said France sent personnel to Taiwan late last year to repair the engines. It also provided advanced scope testing equipment for fighter aircraft, trained Taiwan’s personnel free of charge, and delivered parts and supplies for the Mirages ahead of schedule. The military said the compensation was worth about 10 million euros (US$13.5 million).

Taiwan ordered 48 single-seat Mirage 2000-5EI interceptors and 12 Mirage twin-seat 2000-5DI trainers in 1992.
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Aero_Wing_32

Aero_Wing_32

Junior Member
Interesting article as well as interesting point! Seems that France is no more impressed by chinese pressure.

French officials are maybe disapointed by chinese international positions with the Iran and North Korea nuclear issues, the low RMB... or even the lack of democracy!

Are they preparing a future upgrade of the whole fleet?! should be... or even more than this! I agree, french military industry needs big deals. And french economic recovery is far away!

kliu0 said:
Saw this on the Liberty Times two days ago. What can I say, I'm impressed. Looks like all the French-Taiwan arms supplies/parts deals are all back-door eh?

Perhaps its a faint signal that maybe France wants to sell more arms to Taiwan in the future? Taiwan should really try to at least talk to French officials about more arms sales, the French arms industry....isn't exactly doing too well.
ROCAF should take half of the IDF fleet turn it into LIFT trainers and buy another 100 new fighters (Rafale or F-16).

By the way, theres nothing provocative by selling new SM-2 missiles to existing ROCN ships (Other than the Kidd destroyers), so why won't the US sell them?

I get the feeling that the ROC military is playing "foul". It's not hardening runways & other infrastructure, not upgrading equipment (that it can do domestically). Instead its focused on transforming itself within 4 years to an all-volunteer force (political reasons) and saying that the ROCAF is really crap and needs new fighters.

ROCA should really buy new tanks, I mean they do help prevent amphibious invasions too.
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S

Skywatcher

Captain
Aero_Wing_32 said:
Interesting article as well as interesting point! Seems that France is no more impressed by chinese pressure.

French officials are maybe disapointed by chinese international positions with the Iran and North Korea nuclear issues, the low RMB... or even the lack of democracy!

Are they preparing a future upgrade of the whole fleet?! should be... or even more than this! I agree, french military industry needs big deals. And french economic recovery is far away!
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I won't count on it if I were you. The Chinese arms industry has advanced to the point that if France sells anything significant to the RoC, the PRC can just follow French arms vendors where ever they go and offer a lower price, which is probably going to shave off at least 5 to 10 percent of the French profit margin every time they do that, since a more or less equivalent Chinese offering would force the French to make their products more competitive.
 
Aero_Wing_32

Aero_Wing_32

Junior Member
Skywatcher said:
I won't count on it if I were you. The Chinese arms industry has advanced to the point that if France sells anything significant to the RoC, the PRC can just follow French arms vendors where ever they go and offer a lower price, which is probably going to shave off at least 5 to 10 percent of the French profit margin every time they do that, since a more or less equivalent Chinese offering would force the French to make their products more competitive.
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Price, margins... whatever... Taiwan needs a more advanced fleet of military aircraft. US administration seems totally frozen by chinese and their pressure on US interests. France is one of the few countries which can offer a topnotch response to the most advanced warplanes from China. We cannot stay away of that kind of fair proposal. Otherwise taiwanese democracy will be history. Tell it to the youth of taiwanese nation, pal.
 
S

Skywatcher

Captain
Aero_Wing_32 said:
Price, margins... whatever... Taiwan needs a more advanced fleet of military aircraft. US administration seems totally frozen by chinese and their pressure on US interests. France is one of the few countries which can offer a topnotch response to the most advanced warplanes from China. We cannot stay away of that kind of fair proposal. Otherwise taiwanese democracy will be history. Tell it to the youth of taiwanese nation, pal.
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You still need the French to sell first.
 
Aero_Wing_32

Aero_Wing_32

Junior Member
Still no good news about Taiwan military concerns...

Now another one widely reported by press and TV in Taiwan:

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France to close military liaison office in Taiwan

AU REVOIR, PEUT-ETRE: Initially mum over the matter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last night that the French were seeking to streamline their overseas offices

By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTERS, WITH AFP
Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010, Page 1


Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei tells a press conference in Taipei yesterday after reports that the French Insitute in Taiwan would pull out a military liaison office.

PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

France said it would close a low-key military liaison office in Taiwan in retaliation over a ruling in a controversial arms deal, local media said yesterday.

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported that the office, which arranges visits by military personnel and facilitates Taiwan’s acquisition of French-made weaponry, would be shut down next month.

The office is part of the French Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy of France in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

The report came after a decision by an international court last month ordering French group Thales to pay back a large sum that it overcharged Taiwan in a 1991 frigate sale.

A Paris-based court of *arbitration said the money was to make up for unauthorized commissions paid to help Thomson-CSF, which later became Thales, win a deal to sell six Lafayette frigates to Taiwan.

Lawyers at the Ministry of National Defense said Thales would pay an estimated US$861 million to Taiwan, including US$591 million in damages and US$270 million in interest and legal expenses.

The arbitration results also led France to scrap its plan of arming the six Lafayette frigates with the French-made Aster air defense system, the Liberty Times said.

Thales spearheaded the sale, but the main stake in the contract was held by French state-owned shipbuilder DCN. Several sources said the French state would have to pay 70 percent of the penalty.

In 2001, Taiwan’s highest anti-graft body concluded that as much as US$400 million in kickbacks may have been paid throughout the course of the deal.

In 2008, a French judge ordered the dismissal without trial of one of France’s biggest graft cases involving massive kickbacks in the frigate sale to Taiwan, citing a lack of evidence.

The Liberty Times reported that Taipei and Paris reached a consensus in April to settle the matter out of court, with France providing Taiwan with military equipment, upgraded functions and technological services.

The two sides had decided to go ahead with the new cooperation plan after the international court delivered the ruling, but the plan fell flat following the surprising ruling last month, the report said.

National Security Council Adviser Ke Kuang-yeh (葛光越) indirectly confirmed that the French Institute in Taiwan had decided to close its technical team, saying “a replacement was being worked on.”

The withdrawal of the technical team would not influence future technical and military ties, Ke told Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) at a question-and-answer session at the legislature.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) told the legislature’s Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday he was unaware of the matter.

Yang said the ruling would not affect relations between Taiwan and France.

Last night, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the French government had plans to pull out the technical team as part of efforts to streamline its overseas personnel and cut government costs.

The French government has been deliberating the matter for years and it has kept the Taiwanese government informed, it said.

Since the matter was an internal affair of the French government that has yet to be finalized, the ministry said it was in no position to further comment.

Approached by the Taipei Times, the French Institute in Taiwan refused to comment.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said she was concerned that any falling outs in military ties with France would undermine the military’s ability to counter a growing Chinese threat.

“If there is a lapse in US military sales and then France also stops its sales, the Taiwanese military will be in a serious crisis,” Chen said.

“President [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] must fight harder to prevent this from happening,” she said.
 
Semi-Lobster

Semi-Lobster

Junior Member
Looks like the ROCAF is getting a bit desperate and are now willing to settle for ANY VTOL aircraft and trying to obtain more F-16s continues to go nowhere. The question remains whats left to do? The US is completely silent, and France is backing off If the ROCAF are so intent on VTOL aircraft the only country not using their VTOL assets at all is Thailand and those are first generation quasi-relics:

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Flight Global said:
Taiwan wants VSTOL fighters, report claims
By Leithen Francis

Taiwan hopes to maintain air operations in the event of a military conflict with China by using vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft.

VSTOL fighters would allow Taiwan to maintain fighter operations should Chinese missiles damage the island's military runways, says US-based think-tank the Project 2049 Institute in a report entitled Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia Pacific Region.

Former US deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver heads the institute. While at the State Department, Schriver was responsible for issues relating to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The report quotes former Taiwanese air force commander Liu Guili as saying: "The air force is open to any kind of VSTOL fighters, and is not necessarily aiming for the US [Lockheed Martin F-35] Joint Strike Fighter that is in development."

Taiwan's initial requests for participation in the international JSF programme were rebuffed, adds the institute.

Taiwan has also built underground storage hangars for its fighters.

"The underground aircraft storage facilities adjacent to Hualian airbase and near Taidong are able to house more than half of the Republic of China air force's total fleet," the report says.

Taiwan has also been conducting exercises to improve its "rapid runway repair" capabilities, it adds.

Taiwan's air force has 56 Dassault Mirage 2000s, 145 Lockheed F-16A/Bs, 126 Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation F-CK-1 Indigenous Defence Fighters and 60 Northrop F-5E/Fs, says the institute, adding that the F-5s are reaching the end of their operational lives.

To meet its more immediate needs, Taiwan has for several years been trying to persuade the USA to sell it a further batch of 66 F-16C/Ds.

In January, Washington announced that it plans to sell Taiwan arms equipment worth $6.1 billion, including 60 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and 114 Lockheed Patriot PAC-3 missiles. However, the deal excludes more F-16s.
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Aero_Wing_32

Aero_Wing_32

Junior Member
Semi-Lobster said:
The US is completely silent, and France is backing off If the ROCAF are so intent on VTOL aircraft the only country not using their VTOL assets at all is Thailand and those are first generation quasi-relics:

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Click to expand...

I don't think that France is backing off. However, the strange insistance of Taiwan in the Lafayette case compromises any new deal between these 2 parts. Without any positive approach to remove this spin, it remains a big liability to resume any new arm deal: like officially upgrade the Mirage 2000 to 2000-9 standard + purchase of UAE 2000-9 fleet or even a Rafale F3 purchase.
 
A

adeptitus

Captain
VIP Professional
Donno about you guys, but if I saw a torpedo in my fishing net, I ain't bringing it on board!

=============================================

Taiwan navy offers reward for missing torpedo
(AFP) – 3 days ago

TAIPEI — Taiwan's navy is offering a cash reward to any fisherman who finds a torpedo its sailors lost during a drill last week, the military said Tuesday.

The offer follows four days of intensive but futile searching in the area around the Tsoying base in southern Taiwan, the navy said in a statement.

Any fisherman who snares the German-built SUT torpedo will scoop 30,000 Taiwan (930 US) dollars.

It is the second time submariners aboard the Dutch-made Hai Lung, or "Sea Dragon" have lost a torpedo. In 2003 the missing weapon was washed ashore.
 
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