Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Spartan95 said:

And France isn't the only fighter exporter in the world. ROC can turn to other options, such as the Gripen, or even Russian SU/MIGs.



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KYli said:

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Taiwan Stages Missile Tests on Eve of U.S.-China Meeting
By IAN JOHNSON
Published: January 18, 2011


BEIJING — On the eve of a summit meeting between the presidents of China and the United States, Taiwan tested 19 missiles on Tuesday with mixed results.

Six of the 19 air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles missed their mark. Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, was at the drill and said he was unhappy with the results, urging the military to improve training. His presence and comments were an about-face for the leader, who previously has said that Taiwan faced more of a threat from natural disasters than China, with which he has been trying to improve ties.

“They’ve been under a lot of criticism over the past year or two of bumbling on defense issues, of placating China,” said Wendell Minnick, a correspondent for the publication DefenseNews. “They’re trying to show they’re serious.”

China, which claims Taiwan as a province, has hundreds of missiles aimed at the island and has been modernizing its military, mostly with hardware imported from Russia as well as its own technology. Last week, it tested what it said was an advanced stealth fighter, a plane at least a generation ahead of Taiwan’s American-supplied air force.

The timing of the exercise — coming a day before President Barack Obama and Hu Jintao were due to meet for a summit in Washington — was widely seen as coincidental. Government officials in Taiwan said the dates for the exercise were set before the dates for Mr. Hu’s trip were known. But the tests are a reminder that Taiwan remains a problem for relations between the two countries.

When the United States and China resumed diplomatic ties in the late 1970s, Washington promised to reduce military sales to Taiwan but Congress also passed a law requiring the government to aid Taiwan in its self-defense. Last year, the Obama administration said it would go through with a $6 billion sale of military hardware promised by the Bush administration. That prompted China to scale back defense ties between the two countries.

Those ties have now been resumed but analysts in Taiwan say it is likely to make further requests in the coming years — and can point at Tuesday’s test as proof that it will need help if it is to keep a credible deterrent.

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Taiwan missile drill marred by misses
Posted: 18 January 2011 1357 hrs

CHIUPENG, Taiwan: Taiwan held a major missile drill Tuesday just days after rival China unveiled an aircraft that uses stealth technology, but several misses marred the exercise.

Before an audience that included President Ma Ying-jeou, five out of 19 missiles failed to hit their targets at the Chiupeng military base in the island's south.

"It's within our predictions, but of course there's room for improvement," said air force Lieutenant General Pan Kung-hsiao, when asked to comment about the missiles that went astray.

Ma, however, was less forgiving, telling journalists that the military should get to the bottom of the failures.

"I'm not very satisfied," Ma said. "Some missiles missed the targets, and we need to review whether these errors were mechanical or human. We also need to hold more drills to boost military capabilities."

The missile drill at the normally tightly guarded base was the largest open to the media since Ma assumed power in 2008.

It was meant to signal Taiwan's defence capabilities to the island's own public just days after China unveiled the J-20, an aircraft that uses stealth technology to avoid radar detection, according to analysts.

"Taiwan wants to reassure its people at a time when China keeps developing advanced weapons such as the J-20," said Edward Chen, a political scientist at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of American Studies.

The drill also came on the same day that Chinese President Hu Jintao was to leave for a state visit to the United States, with Taiwan likely to be on the agenda.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory, and has never renounced the possible use of force to get it back.

Among the weapon systems tested Tuesday were home-made Tien Kung, or "Sky Bow" surface-to-air missiles, French-made Mica and Magic air-to-air missiles and US-made Hawk surface-to-air missiles.

Military authorities said the drill was launched only after they were certain that no Chinese spy ships were near the coastal missile base aiming to collect information.

-AFP/ac

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Spartan95 said:

Between this ~30% miss rate of some of the most "modern" missiles in the ROC military's inventory (not sure if PAC-3 were tested in the exercise), and the massive mordernisation of the PLA in recent years, it is quite clear that they have a dire and urgent need for modernisation.

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Spartan95 said:

This news is all over the media.

Given that the ROC military hasn't had significant military purchases in the last 10+ years, those missiles they fired would likely have been sitting in their warehouses for at least a decade. In other words, not exactly tip-top condition.

The above report said that 6 out of 19 missiles missed. Some other reports said 5 out of 19 missed:

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Between this ~30% miss rate of some of the most "modern" missiles in the ROC military's inventory (not sure if PAC-3 were tested in the exercise), and the massive mordernisation of the PLA in recent years, it is quite clear that they have a dire and urgent need for modernisation.

This exercise should provide the impetus for the ruling party to push through whatever modernisation they can afford. Whether they continue to rely solely on the US (ditch the legacy French systems?) or explore alternatives, only time will tell.

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Mr T said:

I think you've got confused.

First, the Patriot 3 batteries aren't in service yet. Second, the TK-2 performed fine according to local reports. The main problem was with HAWK and AIM-7 missiles. The HAWKs are being replaced with the TK-2, and I think the AIM-7s are similarly on the way out.

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Taiwan: Military to check under-performing Sparrow missiles
Central News Agency
2011-01-19 12:14 AM

Following a poor showing by six missiles in a test firing yesterday, three of which were U.S.-made Sparrows, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it will check each and every one of the remaining missiles to find out what went wrong.

MND spokesman Yu Sy-tue said 11 of the 15 scenarios tested at southern Taiwan's Jiupeng military base had successful outcomes.

"The 73.3 percent success rate was within the MND's target range of between 70 percent and 95 percent -- but barely a passing grade, " Yu said.

But President Ma Ying-jeou, who witnessed the military drill, said he was "not quite satisfied" with the results and demanded a review.

A total of 19 missiles with different ranges were fired, six of which missed their targets, translating into a 68 percent hit rate.

Three out of the six that failed to hit the targets were Sparrows, which have a poorer record than some other types of missiles.

In a 2006 exercise, there were incidents of Sparrows falling into the sea before reaching their targets.

Defense officials attributed the problem to incomplete combustion of its rocket propellant, early detonation of the fuse, and failure to explode upon reaching the target.

Pan Kung-hsiao, director of the Air Force Command's Department of Political Affairs, said the target drone's signal might have been to blame for the three Sparrows' poor performance and that the MND will try to contact the U.S. manufacturer.

A defense expert said the military might also have purposely used old and nearly dysfunctional missiles for the test firing.

Erich Shih, editor of Defense International magazine, said Tuesday's test scenarios were not based on normal simulated war situations.

For instance, Mica and Tien Chien II, mid-range missiles designed for striking at targets 40-50 km away, were used as short-range missiles this time, he said.

Kuomintang Legislator Justin S. Chou, a member of the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, called the 68 percent hit rate "disappointing to the point of indignation."

If a military exercise under the watch of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces should turn in such a lousy score, there must be many other problems unknown to the public plaguing the country's defense system, according to Chou.

Tsai Huang-liang, a legislator of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), expressed a similar level of disgruntlement over the missile tests.

"If things keep developing this way, how can our troops fight in a war?" Tsai said.

Shuai Hua-ming, a retired general-turned-KMT lawmaker, was more sympathetic.

He said the defense authorities should of course be called to account if the cause of Tuesday's problem was poor maintenance of the weapons system. However, if the problem was caused by a shortage of military budget, then the cure lies with increasing the MND's budget.

Shih seemed to agree, saying that "maintaining high-tech weapons calls for special expertise. Dwindling defense budgets have begun to affect the missiles' maintenance fees."

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