Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Deino

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Agreed and You are correct, their fleet is in comparison quite young. However esp. the last point You mentioned concerns me the most. So either Taiwan develops itself a new type (nearly impossible given the amount of money necessary) or the political climates changes ...otherwise I only see a huge question mark !
 

Franklin

Captain
Taiwan has commissioned the Tuo River missile boat.

Taiwan’s largest missile ship goes into service

Taiwan's largest-ever missile ship went into service Tuesday after a ceremony presided over by President Ma Ying-jeou as the island strives to modernize its military in response to a perceived threat from China.

Ma praised the corvette's "stealth and speed" at the ceremony involving hundreds of naval officers and said it "reflects the determination by the military to defend national security".

Armed with 16 missiles, the ship will strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities. China still considers the island part of its territory waiting to be reunited — by force if necessary.

The 500-tonne corvette, named 'Tuo Chiang' ('Tuo River'), will be deployed following the ceremony at the southern Tsoying naval base.

It is the prototype for up to 11 others to be built for the navy.

The sleek twin-hulled ship uses stealth technology to reduce the reflection of radar waves, making it harder to detect.

Taiwan in December announced a new project to produce advanced homegrown surface-to-air missiles from 2015 as part of efforts to build an air defense shield.

It has also announced a move to build its own submarines, which Ma said Tuesday were "crucial" to its defense.

The Taiwanese navy currently operates a fleet of four submarines, but only two of them can be deployed in the event of war. The other two were built by the United States in the 1940s and are too old for combat.

Relations between Taiwan and China have improved since 2008 when Ma, of the China-friendly Kuomintang party, came to power.

However the perceived threat remains — according to Taiwan's defense ministry China has more than 1,500 ballistic and cruise missiles trained on the island.

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Franklin

Captain
This should be in the what the heck section. Taiwan's military using pictures of PLA soldiers in its recruitment poster.

China PLA soldier photo misused for Taiwan military recruitment poster

The Army Command Headquarters (ACH, 陸軍司令部) yesterday said that it has ordered the immediate removal of a controversial Army recruitment poster and is conducting internal discussions to determine the proper punishment for personnel responsible for creating the poster.

According to the Chinese-language Apple Daily, a reader revealed a controversial poster on Saturday and claimed that the poster was found during a family reunion day at the 206th Army Infantry Brigade (陸軍步兵206旅) located in Guanxi Township, Hsinchu County.

Reportedly, the poster in question is a recruitment poster for the Republic of China Army (R.O.C.A.) seeking to draft full-time soldiers. However, the Apple Daily reader reportedly noticed that the servicemen on the poster were People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers from mainland China, and not from Taiwan.

The reader was quoted as questioning whether the R.O.C.A. and the PLA are both classified as one Chinese army.

The mistake allegedly happened when Army officers conducted online picture searches to create the poster. Investigations have revealed that the said officers mistook PLA military men for R.O.C.A. soldiers, which resulted in the making of the controversial poster.

In response, an officer from the ACH stated that the poster was used for recruitment, and its immediate removal of was ordered following confirmation that the soldiers in the poster were indeed not of the R.O.C.A.

The officer said that the commanding officers have begun to look into the situation, and will deliver punishments to responsible parties accordingly. The ACH will also adopt the case as a lesson to learn from to prevent future errors from happening.

The ACH will take responsibility for the situation and reflect on the mistake, and will also strengthen the screening process for its pro motional mediums, the officer said.

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Zetageist

Junior Member
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Marine F-18s Land at Taiwan Air Base, Beijing Protests


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Beijing is not happy that two U.S. F-18s conducted emergency landings in Taiwan.

j_michael_cole_q-36x36.jpg

By
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for The Diplomat
April 02, 2015

Two U.S. Marine F/A-18C Hornet aircraft did a precautionary landing at an air force base in southern Taiwan on April 1 after one of the aircraft reportedly flashed a persistent engine oil pressure light warning. Unusual in itself, the incident, which has been widely covered in Taiwanese media, could be more significant than initially thought.

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed on April 2 that the two aircraft were from the U.S.
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. The squadron is under the Marine Aircraft Group 11 (MAG-11). Mark Zimmer, the spokesman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the United States’ de facto embassy in the absence of official diplomatic ties, said the two aircraft took off from an airbase in Japan on Wednesday. Major Paul L. Greenberg, a spokesman for the U.S. Marine Corps,added that the F-18s were on a routine mission in support of a training exercise. According to the U.S. Marine Corps’ 1st Marine Aircraft Wing Public Affairs Office, the pair of F-18s was
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to participate in the
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air-to-air joint exercises with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).

At this writing, Pacific Command (PACOM) had yet to respond to a query from The Diplomat seeking confirmation about the timing of this year’s COMMANDO SLING. Last year’s exercise (COMMANDO SLING 14-2) was held in mid-March. Though no exercise name is given, a
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on the Singaporean Ministry of Defense website indicates that the Republic of Singapore Air Force will be conducting live firing exercises around Pulau Sudong, Pulau Pawai and Pulau Senang from March 30 through April 3. It is not unusual for the specifics about a military exercise to by made public only after its completion.

Originally based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, VMFA-323
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out of MCAS Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the only Marines Corps installation on mainland Japan. About 200 Marines and 10 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft deployed to Iwakuni on February 12 as part of a Unit Deployment Program.

Initial reports had mistakenly stated that the F-18s had taken off from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the two aircraft landed at Tainan Air Force Base at 1:19 pm on April 1, with assistance from the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing. Per protocol, the two aircraft landed to maintain “section integrity.”

Tainan Air Force Base is home to three F-CK-1 “Ching Kuo” Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) fighter groups (1st, 3rd and 9th) and is in the frontlines of Taiwan’s air defense architecture against China.

The ROACF has provided a hangar to store the American aircraft, but as Taiwan does not have F-18s in its arsenal, its technicians do not have the expertise to perform the mechanical repair. American technicians arrived in Tainan on board a Hercules C-130 transport on the evening of April 2 to repair the aircraft.

The sensitive landing — Beijing is extremely wary of potential military cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. — occurred just as the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was conducting its
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, more specifically in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines. According to PLAAF spokesman Shen Jinke, “warplanes of the PLA Air Force flew to the West Pacific for training via the Bashi Channel on March 30 and returned on the same day after finishing the training and achieving the given goal.” An April 2 report in the People’s Daily said the
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was involved in the exercise. The H-6K is armed with nuclear cruise missiles and is regarded as a potential threat to U.S. bases in Guam, among others.

The F-18s were reportedly expected to cross the Bashi Channel on their way to Singapore.

Interestingly, the emergency landing in Taiwan occurred on the
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— also known as the “Hainan Incident” — when a U.S. Navy EP-3 Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System aircraft collided mid-air with a J-8 PLAAF interceptor, forcing the Americans to land their aircraft on Hainan Island. It also occurred two days after China
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, which has raised national security concerns in Taiwan due to the risk that the PLAAF could exploit it to launch a surprise attack against the island. The new route comes very close to the
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in the Taiwan Strait. In August 2014, two Y-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft
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the southwestern margin of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), forcing Taiwan to scramble interceptors.

In another bit of trivia (with thanks to Ian Easton of the Project 2049 Institute for alerting me to this): In the Tom Clancy
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Threat Vector, F/A-18 aircraft from VMFA-323 based at Iwakuni come to Taiwan’s rescue and turn the tide of war against China.

Rick Fisher, a military analyst at the International Assessment and Strategy Center and an expert on the PLA, said that while the precautionary landing may have indeed resulted from a malfunction, the decision to land in Taiwan
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, 120 miles east of Taiwan — a much less contentious location in Beijing’s eyes — sent a strong political signal.

Although there is no confirmation that the F-18s were on a reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence about the ongoing PLA exercises in the Bashi Channel or were heading directly for Singapore, the precautionary landing should serve as a reminder to Beijing that in the event of armed conflict between China and Taiwan or the Philippines, U.S. military aircraft could count on allies within the region — including Taiwan — to land or base its aircraft, an option that would not be available to the PLA. Intentional or not, the symbolically laden “incident” could also serve as a morale booster for Taiwan’s Air Force.

By some accounts, the landings may have been a calculated move by the U.S. to signal its commitment to the region amid increasing assertiveness by the PLA.

In
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to the landing, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this was a “serious incident,” adding that the U.S. must abide by the “one China” principle and the Three Communiqués.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Okay...I believe there is some knee-jerk going on here.

If there indeed was a technical problem with the F-18 aircraft, then they can not be expected to fly another 120 miles for "political reasons"...they put down at the nearest open airfield to them to avoid a tragic crash. In this case, that was apparently a Taiwan airfield.

It is not as if though the US Marines planned a training exercise with the Republic of China's air force or Navy and then flew their to conduct it.

IMHO, the best thing the PRC could have done was to simply ignore it...or to announce their support for the aircraft avoiding a tragic accident and asking if there is anything further the PRC can do to assist.

By somehow condemning it and people making these conspiracy theories, they are just drawing more attention to it and causing it to be a self-fulfilling prophesy in some people's minds.
 

Zetageist

Junior Member
Okay...I believe there is some knee-jerk going on here.

If there indeed was a technical problem with the F-18 aircraft, then they can not be expected to fly another 120 miles for "political reasons"...they put down at the nearest open airfield to them to avoid a tragic crash. In this case, that was apparently a Taiwan airfield.

Not stated in the news, according to Taiwanese TV media, there was 22 minutes gap between the report of malfunction and the landing of F-18s at Tainan airfield. Probably that is why military analyst Rick Fisher questioned the political motive behind this emergency landing at a Taiwan airfield.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
...according to Taiwanese TV media, there was 22 minutes gap between the report of malfunction and the landing of F-18s at Tainan airfield...that is why military analyst Rick Fisher questioned the political motive.
Well, I imagine when they had the difficulty that they ensured that they were slowed to the safest, but slowest flying speed.

Then they had to get to the air field. They could easily have been 150 or more miles out when this occurred. That would easily eat up all of that time.

We just do not know. Fisher is speculating and attempting (IMHO) to increase traffic to his article with such claims.
 

Zetageist

Junior Member
This is what I have gathered so far about this emergency landing: The 2 F-18s were escorting an EA-6B Prowler, an electronics warfare aircraft, en route to the Philippines from a Japan base, supposedly going to Singapore for routine exercise. At 12:59pm, around 40 km south of Taiwan, about to cross the Bashi Channel (where
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flew over couple days ago) between Taiwan and the Philippines, the wingman F-18 sent out a 7700 signal. ROCAF first sent up a F-5E to make contact and then a pair of F-CK-1 “Ching Kuo” IDFs to escort both F-18s to land at Tainan Airport at 1:19pm. The wingman F-18 landed first with its right engine shut off has both pods on its wing tips, while the lead F-18 has a missile and a pod on its wing tips. According to a retired ROCAF pilot, those pods at wing tips are used to gather intels as well. See attached pictures. Presumably, the EA-6B was still flying over Taiwan monitoring or gathering intels when those 2 F-18s landed.

Of all the airports, the F-18s selected to land at the Tainan Airport, which has quite an interesting military history. Quotes from Wikipedia:

During WWII under Japan occupation, Tainan Airport was the base for 'Tainan Air Group':
a
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and airbase garrison unit of the
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(IJN) during the
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of
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. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war. The exploits of the unit were widely publicized in the Japanese media at the time, at least in part because the unit spawned more
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than any other fighter unit in the IJN.
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The ace members of the unit included several of the IJN's top scorers and other aces such as
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,
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,
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,
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,
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, and
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.

After the
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government took over Taiwan this airport was handed over to
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while still maintaining civil flights. Between 1957 and 1979 this airport was stationed by the
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, once equipped with
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.
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The
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stationed here from 1958 to 1962, which operated
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, probably under the ultimate control of the
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.
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(CIA backed), headquartered in this airport, prospered during
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due to the need for aircraft maintenance by the United States Armed Forces.

6.jpg 7.jpg

8.jpg

Whether this incident is intended or not, I think it sent out a strong signal, particularly landing at a previous US nuclear air base.
 
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Scratch

Captain
I'm not really convinced the pilots made a deliberate selection of the airfield basedon it's history. They just looked for the closest suitable field and perhaps were even advised / instructed by the ROCAF to go there.

Also, Zetageist, looking at the last two pics in your prvious post I cannot make out any pods being carred at the wing-tips. The thing at the tips, for all I know, is simply the rail-mounting of the wing-tip station. One aircraft has a (dummy?) missile loaded to the left wing-tip station.
Perhaps there's a RWR antenna also in those rails, but that's pretty much a standard on any fighter jet, and not special recon equipment.
 

Skywatcher

Captain
In summation, J. Michael Cole is a flaming idiot.

Quoting a Tom Clancy article is about as useful, relevant (and intelligent) as mentioning John Grisham or Law and Order in a legal opinion.
 
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