Miragedriver
Brigadier
Taiwanese navy ships, Tuo-Jian (618) class and Pan-Shi class (532) joining in service.
Back to bottling my Grenache
Back to bottling my Grenache
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.
Taiwan has commissioned the Tuo River missile boat.
Whether this incident is intended or not, I think it sent out a strong signal, particularly landing at a previous US nuclear air base.
Two US McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets left Taiwan yesterday afternoon after spending two days undergoing maintenance at the Tainan Air Force Base, following the discovery of a blinking oil pressure light by one of the pilots, who had requested an emergency landing at the airfield the base shares with the civilian Tainan Airport.
US aircraft technicians arrived on Thursday evening aboard a Hercules C-130 transport plane and quickly resolved the problem.
The two F/A-18s were kept in hangars belonging to Air Asia Co (亞洲航空) at Tainan Airport, with the repair work carried out on F/A-18 Hornet SW404.
At about 10am yesterday, F/A-18 SW404 was towed from the hangar onto the runway, where its engine was switched on and tested, observers said.
The two F/A-18 Hornets, SW404 and SW410, from US Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323), took off shortly after 1pm. The US Hercules transport plane took off at about 3:15pm.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesman Mark Zimmer said the aircraft flew to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.
Before their departure, US military and Taiwanese air force personnel exchanged gifts as a show of friendship and to mark the “surprise visit” of the two jets.
“Our Air Force 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing presented the US pilots, Hercules C-130 crew and aircraft technicians with hats and coffee cups featuring the unit’s patch,” Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said.
In return, the US Air Force personnel gave their Taiwanese counterparts souvenir coins and a VMFA-323 patch.
The 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Tainan Air Force Base, provided logistical assistance to the F/A-18 jets, Taiwanese military officials said.
The AIT and the US Department of State expressed gratitude to Taiwan for the assistance.
US Marine Corps public affairs officer Major Paul Greenberg said: “The reason for selecting Taiwan as a landing site was based on proximity and weather conducive to landing,” adding that safety is always the top priority.
“Our pilots have the responsibility for diverting their aircraft to the nearest approved airfield if they experience an in-flight condition which they deem unsafe,” he said on Thursday. “This is done in order to protect the pilots, crew and the aircraft.”
US defense analyst Rick Fisher was quoted earlier in a press report as saying that the Pentagon was sending a political message to Beijing following a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force training exercise that saw its new H-6K bombers flying over the Bashi Channel on Monday.
He said the aircraft could have landed at a less controversial location like the Japanese airfield at Shimoji Island, 193km east of Taiwan.
VMFA-323 is deployed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, he said.
The landing of the jets in Taiwan, “while perhaps unintended, does give China a significant signal of US resolve, two days after China used its new H-6K nuclear cruise missile bomber in exercises intended to signal a threat to US forces on Guam,” Fisher said.
Air Asia Company Limited (: 亞洲航空股份有限公司) is a provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services headquartered in . It is now located in the . It is the only surviving member of the , but currently it is owned by and is no longer related to the .
Air Asia was created out of (CAT) in 1955 as 's aircraft service unit.
Civil Air Transport (CAT) (: CT, : CAT, : Mandarin) was a airline, later owned by the , that supported throughout and . During the , missions consisted in assistance to allies according to the of 1949.
CAT was created by and Whiting Willauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) Air Transport.
Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the American "" and the in .
This article is just calling for Taiwan to increase its defense spending to counter China. But it doesn't look at the economic reality that Taiwan is in. The problem for Taiwan is that its economy is losing competitiveness fast in the world economy. Over the past 15 years Taiwan's share of global trade has shrunk by 30%. Wages on Taiwan hasn't been increasing for more than a decade and the economy today is unable to create enough high paying "middle class" jobs for the young people of Taiwan. This is the result of the fact that Taiwan's economy is being squeezed between China on the one hand and South Korea on the other. On the higher end Taiwan is unable to compete with South Korea on technology and value and on the lower end its unable to compete with China on price. So while at the higher end South Korea is leaving Taiwan further and further behind on the lower end China is gobbling up more and more of her industry. And the reason why this is happening is because Taiwan doesn't invest enough in R&D. Taiwan is in a region with China, Japan and South Korea. Taiwan is economically and physically the smallest in the region. It spends about 3% of GDP on R&D while Japan spends about 3,7% of GDP on R&D and South Korea even spends more than 4%. China spends about 2% of GDP on R&D. Taiwan being much smaller than the others need to spend a higher percentage of its GDP just to keep up with the rest. But it isn't doing so and now they are falling further and further behind in the region. On top of that Taiwan with a population about 58 times smaller than China is also aging faster. Taiwan at the moment is able to sell 40% of her wares to China with favorable market access conditions and recieves about 3 million mainland tourist a year to help them goose up their economy. Taiwan economically is almost completely dependent on China. At this point the danger of Taiwan becoming a economic vassal of China is much more real than any possible invasion. And that is really the issue that the Taiwanese leaders need to adress. The loss of economic competitiveness is perhabs a bigger danger than military inbalance and war. Because on the current path war is a possibility but economic vassalship is a certainty. And as Taiwan looses more and more of her industry to China that also diminishes her ability to defend herself in the future. Taiwan should spend more on R&D to stretch the lead it has over China for as long as possible rather than more on military hardware. Its also something I believe we should do in Europe and America. Because our hi tech and heavy industries are loosing their competitiveness to China too.Taiwan’s Defense Spending: The Security Consequences of Choosing Butter over Guns
On April 20, Taiwan’s defense ministry reportedly confirmed for the first time that the country will dispatch P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft on surveillance missions in its claimed territory within the disputed South China Sea.
the ministry in a report sent to the country’s legislature, while the aircraft are now engaged in anti-submarine reconnaissance and joint surveillance in Taiwan’s surrounding waters and air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the military will gradually expand their deployment to areas outside the ADIZ including in the South China Sea. No specifics were given on either when this would occur or what the specific scope of the P-3C Orion aircraft operations would be.
Taiwan currently has received eight of a total of 12 refurbished P-3C Orion aircraft from the United States as part of a sale approved in 2007 following years of political infighting in Taipei. The remaining four are expected to be delivered by the end of 2015.
The move is part of Taiwan’s gradual expansion of its capabilities in the South China Sea as it tries to protect its claims there as one of five claimants (the other four are China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam). As The Diplomat last year, Taiwan was mulling boosting its defenses around the area, with some lawmakers recommending that the country station Tuo-Jiang class corvettes to Itu Aba (which Taiwan calls Taiping Island), the only physical manifestation of Taiwan’s claims in the South China Sea. Plans have also previously been floated to ramp up Taiwanese capabilities on Itu Aba, including improving its runway to accommodate transport and marine patrol aircraft and to construct a port to allow naval frigates and coastguard cutters to be stationed there permanently.
These moves come as China has been solidifying its own claims in the South China Sea through alarmingly expansive island-building activities, which The Diplomat has reported on extensively (see, for instance, , and ).
Taiwan’s Defense Spending: The Security Consequences of Choosing Butter over Guns