Taiwan still hopes to buy F-35 fighters from US - defense official

Taiwan continues to hope for jet fighters with stealth, short take-off and vertical landing capabilities, a senior defense official said Tuesday, noting that the US-made F-35 is one option that fits the bill.

There is "a need" for higher performance combat airplanes, said Major General Chang Wen-shuo, deputy director-general of the Defense Ministry's Department of Strategic Planning, at a regular ministry press conference.

Both the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning, both made by Lockheed Martin, are on the purchase list, Chang said, explaining that "necessity" is the top consideration.

Taiwan set to take August delivery of more Apache helicopters

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) Taiwan is set to take delivery of six more AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from the United States in late August, the Army said Wednesday, in line with a delivery schedule announced after an Apache crashed in northern Taiwan in April.

It will be the fourth shipment of a NT$59.31 billion (US$2.01 billion) order for 30 of the newest Apache model.

"The helicopters are scheduled to arrive in Kaohsiung in late August or early September," an Army official told CNA.

They will be flown to an Army Aviation Special Forces base in the neighboring city of Tainan after being unloaded and checked, the official said.

The latest shipment comes after an Apache crashed into the top of a three-story residential building in Taoyuan County's Longtan Township April 25, damaging four homes but causing no serious injuries.

On July 15, the Army said the environment and human error were found to be the main causes of the crash. Apache training operations had returned to normal before the investigation report was completed, it added.

At the time, the Army said the fourth batch of Apache helicopters would arrive in Taiwan in August, with a final batch expected to be delivered in October.

The crashed chopper was one of 18 that have been delivered to Taiwan by the U.S. since last November.

According to a previous delivery schedule for the final two batches -- said by an Army oficial before the April crash -- the fourth was set to arrive in May and the final one in July. The Army official has attributed the delay to shipping issues.

The model E is the latest in the Apache attack helicopter series. The U.S. and Taiwan are the only two countries using it so far.

Taiwan's Sky Bow missile defense might be sold to Mainland China

There are suspicions that classified information regarding Taiwan's Air Defense Missile Command's Sky Bow surface-to-air missiles may have already been sold to mainland China due to a scandal over the purchase of a high temperature atmosphere furnace used to design the nozzles for the missile, the Taipei-based Storm Media reported on July 12.

Chen Yi-hsin, a technical specialist from the state-run Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), was found to have demanded bribes of US$116,600 from the producer of the high temperature atmosphere furnace. The institute had earmarked US$1.7 million for the furnace; however, it then came to light that Chen had a background of working in mainland China before he was hired by the institute.

As the Sky Bow III, the third generation of the missile family was designed to intercept PLA tactical ballistic missiles, stealth aircraft and cruise missiles, it is possible that Chen sold classified information regarding the missiles to Beijing. Chen served with the CSIST for four years during his mandatory military service before he moved to mainland China.

After working in the mainland for several years, Chen was hired by the institute again as technical specialist. It is still unknown why the CSIST, a government organization under the Ministry of Defense, would hire someone who has a background of working in the mainland to deal with these crucial components to develop an advanced missile system for Taiwan, and Storm Media speculated that the institute may have been compromised by a spy ring on the inside.

Wantchina

U.S. Approval of Taiwan Arms Sales Angers China

Taiwan wants to buy F-16 C/D series from US and upgraded their F-16 A/B (photo : Airliners) WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has approved an arms sales package to Taiwan worth more than $6 billion, a move that has enraged China and may complicate President Obama’s effort to enlist Beijing’s cooperation on Iran. The administration deferred a decision on selling F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan, administration officials said, but they pointedly added that they were not shutting the door to future F-16 sales. The last time the United States sold F-16s to Taiwan was in 1992 under President George H. W. Bush. In response, China threatened to withdraw from international arms control talks and retaliated, many China experts contend, by selling medium-range missiles to Pakistan. “We continue to study it,” a senior administration official said of the possible F-16 sales. “We will look at it from the perspective of what its impact would be on Taiwan’s air defense capability.” The arms package announced Friday is primarily defensive, and includes 114 Patriot missiles worth $2.82 billion,

60 Black Hawk helicopters worth $3.1 billion and communications equipment for Taiwan’s F-16 fleet. The package also includes Harpoon missiles and mine-hunting ships, the Defense Cooperation Security Agency said in a statement. The Chinese reaction was swift, and negative. China’s vice foreign minister, He Yafei, issued a diplomatic message to the State Department expressing his “indignation” over the pending sale, said Wang Baoding, the spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “We believe this move endangers China’s national security and harms China’s peaceful reunification efforts,” Mr. Wang said in an interview. “It will harm China-U.S. relations and bring about a serious and active impact on bilateral communication and cooperation.” China experts said that Beijing was likely to cut off military-to-military cooperation with the United States in retaliation, and that President Hu Jintao might boycott Mr. Obama’s planned nuclear security summit meeting in April. The relationship between the two countries may deteriorate more if Mr. Obama meets, as he is expected to, with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Mr. Obama put off meeting with the Dalai Lama last year to avoid angering Beijing before his visit to China in November, a decision that received strong criticism from human rights activists. Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, said Friday that the announcement should not “come as a surprise to our Chinese friends,” adding that the Obama administration was “bent on a new relationship with China that goes beyond arms sales to Taiwan.” Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, General Jones sought to play down the escalating tensions between the United States and China. Those tensions have been on full display since Mr. Obama traveled to Beijing in November. While Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu promised to conduct regular exchanges and to work together on a number of issues, they did not reach an agreement on how to move forward on Western efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Obama administration officials now say that they view China, not Russia, as the main stumbling block on efforts to get a Security Council resolution that would impose additional sanctions on Iran. A month after Mr. Obama went to Beijing, China blocked his efforts to reach a meaningful climate change agreement in Copenhagen. China announced this month that it had tested the country’s first land-based missile defense system, a test that Chinese and Western analysts said was timed to convey Beijing’s annoyance over the expected American arms sales to Taiwan. Throughout January, Chinese state news media have produced a torrent of articles condemning the expected sale. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, separated since the civil war of the 1940s, and sees arms sales as interference in an internal matter. The American relationship with Taiwan is one of the most delicate diplomatic issues between Beijing and Washington. The deal announced Friday is the second big arms sale to Taiwan in two years. When the Pentagon announced in October 2008, under the Bush administration, that it was selling Taiwan $6.6 billion worth of weapons, China froze military ties with the United States and did not resume the contacts until after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Beijing last February. On Wednesday, the Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, urged China not to take that tack again. Responding to a question from a reporter before the sale was announced, Mr. Morrell said that “this relationship is too important to go through the fits and starts that we have over the years, where every little bump in the road results in a breaking of communication and a suspension of dialogue.” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are both expected to travel to Beijing this year for high-level talks. Administration officials said Friday that they hoped China did not retract those two invitations.
 (New York Times)

Taiwan Special Force

Taiwan's BMD Radar Gives Unique Data on China

Chinapost
The MND said in the report that the radar, the first of its kind in Asia, can conduct 360-degree surveillance and has a maximum range of 3,300 kilometers, encompassing almost the whole of East Asia and Western Pacific.

Miragec14
Defensenews

Taiwan’s early warning radar (EWR) on the island’s west coast has gained the respect of just about everyone in the region — except China, because it is the most “powerful radar in the world,” said a Taiwan defense industry source.
Sources debate the potential power of the radar, based on Leshan Mountain near the city of Hsinchu, but all agree it is a multifaceted, ultra high frequency (UHF) radar capable of tracking air-breathing targets — including cruise missiles — and ballistic missiles at 3,000 kilometers, depending on the target.
The requirement for such a powerful surveillance platform came about at China’s instigation. During the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait missile crisis, China launched 10 DF-15 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the waters north and south of the island. The intent was to discourage Taiwan from conducting its first democratic elections, but it failed.
The US responded by sending two aircraft carrier groups to the area as a show of support. At the time, China had approximately 350 DF-11/15 SRBMs, but today that number is about 1,100.
Taiwan responded to the threat by procuring Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) ballistic missile defense systems with three fire units. The units were stationed around the capital city of Taipei, leaving much of the central and southern part of the island unprotected, except for an indigenous air defense missile system, the Tien Kung 2 (Sky Bow).
In 2008, the US released 330 PAC-3 missiles, and in 2010, the US released an additional 114 PAC-3 missiles.
In 2000, the US government approved the sale of ballistic missile detection radar under the Surveillance Radar Program (SRP). Raytheon proposed an advanced UHF long-range EWR based on the AN/FPS-115 Pave Paws, and Lockheed offered the Medium Extended Air Defense System.
Raytheon won the contract in 2004 and began construction in 2009..
In late 2012, shortly after going online, the radar managed to track the launch of a North Korean missile. It is 170 kilometers from China’s coastline and directly across from China’s signal intelligence station at Dongjing Shan. This is significant because the radar reportedly has jamming capabilities.
During a war, China will do whatever it takes to destroy that radar.
“It’s not expected to last an hour during a war with China,” said one US defense industry source.
One US defense industry analyst with close ties to Taiwan’s military said the DSP has access to it.
“The US gave Taiwan free access to DSP satellites for the last 10 years. So this is quid pro quo,” he said.

Taiwan to receive two US-made frigates in 2015/ Đài Loan sẽ nhận 2 frigates của Mỹ vào 2015

Source: Chinapost (Taiwan breaking news)

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The R.O.C. military is scheduled to receive its first batch of two Perry-class frigates from the United States in 2015 to replace its existing fleet of aging frigates, a senior Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said yesterday.
The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday approved legislation paving the way for the U.S. to sell four Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates to Taiwan.

The bill titled “The Naval Vessel Transfer and Arms Export Control Amendments Act of 2013” still must pass the U.S. Congress.

Asked to comment on when Taiwan is expected to receive the warships, Navy Chief of Staff Kao Tien-chung (高天忠) told lawmakers that the R.O.C Armed Forces could receive the first two ships of the four-vessel order in 2015.

“The U.S. has so far agreed to sell us four frigates, and two of them will be delivered in 2015,” Kao said during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

The MND has allocated NT$5.2 billion in defense spending to buy two frigates from the U.S., he added.

Kao said the American frigates are expected to replace two aging Knox-class frigates in the Republic of China Navy.

The R.O.C. Navy currently operates eight U.S.-made Knox-class frigates that were built in the 1960s, and later transferred to Taiwan in the 1990s.

This class of frigates was later designated as the Chi-Yang class (濟陽級) and assigned to the Navy's Yilan-based 168th Patrol Squadron.

Speaking during the same session yesterday, Defense Minister Yen Ming (嚴明) said that the Taiwan military is also considering the option of building its own warships.

Kao also said during the hearing that Taiwan will design and build one salvage ship prototype and another amphibious warfare ship sometime between 2015 and 2018.

The Amendments Act passed Wednesday in Washington would authorize the sale of four frigates to Taiwan, namely the USS Taylor (FFG-50), USS Gary (FFG-51), USS Carr (FFG-52) and USS Elrod (FFG-55).

The four warships were commissioned between 1984 and 1985 and, except for the USS Gary, which was decommissioned in March, are all in active service.

Kao also confirmed at the legislative session yesterday that Taiwan is expected to spend another NT$5 billion to procure an additional 36 AAV-7A1 amphibious assault vehicles.

In 2006, Taiwan procured 54 of those vehicles to replace its aging LVTP-5A1 vehicles acquired in the 1970s.

Taiwan’s CSIST unveils first VTOL UAV/ UAV Đài Loan phát triển

Taiwan’s Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology will unveil its first VTOL unmanned aircraft, dubbed Mystic Eye, at the 2013 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition.

Taiwan Gets First Batch Of AH-64E Apache helicopters

Miragec14
Defensenews

Taiwan is to acquire 60 Apache from the US.
Taiwan has received the first six of 30 Apache advanced attack helicopters bought from the United States as it modernizes its military despite warming ties with China.
The six AH-64Es were shipped to the southern port of Kaohsiung.
The Taiwanese army will become the first force outside the US to introduce the new model.
A second batch of six is scheduled  to arrive in December while the remainder will be delivered by the end of 2014.