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The navy is to modernize the two Hai Lung-class submarines in its fleet as part of a four-year program as planned, after Netherlands-based RH Marine green-lit the program’s technical feasibility, a Ministry of National Defense official said. Modified from the Dutch Zwaardvis-class, the Hai Lung-class subs have been in service for more than 30 years of their 35-year life span, the official told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on condition of anonymity. To enhance combat capabilities and to address a shortage of parts, the navy has planned numerous improvements, including equipping the pair with long-range...

US military officials allegedly recently inspected the Republic of China Navy’s fast combat support ship Panshi to evaluate its capacity for battlefield medical support in the event of combat with North Korea, local media reported yesterday. Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) refused to comment on a report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily when asked for details. The newspaper said a small contingent of US military officials boarded the Panshi to inspect its facilities and make inquiries regarding its capacity for surgical operations. The report cited a military source as saying that if the US were...

OTTAWA — Canada’s last destroyer will be taken out of service in the spring, leaving the country’s navy reliant on allies for longer-range air defence for at least the next seven years. HMCS Athabaskan, and similar destroyers, provided command and control capabilities over the years for the Royal Canadian Navy as well as what was called area air defence. But Athabaskan, Canada’s last destroyer, will be taken out of service within the next year, most likely in the spring, Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd, the new commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, told Postmedia Wednesday. Canada’s warships still have the capability to...

Pictures of a scale model and computer renderings of a new guided-missile destroyer project for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy (ROC Navy) emerged last week in the 中国军事中國軍事武器 (China Military Chinese Weapon) magazine. This new destroyer project is in line with Taiwan's new naval acquisition plan which was unveiled late last year. The new plan called for four new destroyers (among other vessels). CGI of the new DDG Project for the ROC Navy Based on the picture and images, one of the key feature of the new destroyer class is a large mast with four AESA radar arrays presumably...

The Republic of China Navy (ROCN) Program Office recently announced in Taipei a major indigenous development programme spanning ten vessel types. It represents a desire for Taiwan to be less dependent on the US for naval requirements. Indigenous production calls for spending of US$14.7 billion over a 23-year period out to 2040, including submarines, destroyers, guided missile frigates, landing platform docks (LPD), 2,500t multipurpose transports, additional catamaran-hulled Tuo Jiang-class corvettes, rescue vessel, ocean surveillance ship, minelayers and tugboats. Interestingly, an ROCN press release a day earlier included a landing helicopter dock (LHD), but it disappeared at the official briefing without...

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Taiwan's Navy decommissioned two of its eight Knox-class frigates Friday with the intention of replacing them with two Perry-class guided missile frigates that is part of a fleet modernization effort. The two Knox-class vessels were retired from service at a ceremony in the southern city of Kaohsiung, which was presided over by Navy Commander Adm. Li Hsi-ming (李喜明). It was part of the effort to modernize the Navy's fleet of vessels and enhance the country's maritime defense capabilities. The Navy plans to decommission all eight of its 4,300-ton Knox-class frigates that were built in the early...

Senior naval officials hinted earlier this week that the new-generation Tuo Jiang-class corvette (沱江艦) could be dispatched to beef up security measures around the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea if the need arises. Responding to enquiries from legislators, Navy Chief of Staff Hsiao Wei-min (蕭維民) said the recently commissioned Tuo Jiang stealth missile corvette would able to reach Taiwan’s military outpost on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) within one day. Taiping, spanning 46 hectares, is the largest island in the Spratlys, and has permanent troops from Coast Guard Administration units stationed there. The...

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) Taiwan's first locally designed stealth missile corvette, the 502-ton Tuo Chiang (Tuo River), began sea trials of its dynamic system Monday. The ship was towed from the Lung Teh Shipbuidling Co. at the port of Nanfangao in Yilan County and sailed to waters south of Kueishan Island and north of Hualien Harbor. Despite heavy seas off the port of Suao, the twin-hull construction of the corvette enabled it to maintain high-speed navigation. The Navy said the tests entailed checking whether the engine can meet the requirements of traveling at high and low speeds. After the tests,...

Taiwan's navy successfully test-fired two anti-ship missiles from a submarine, in the first such exercise since the weapons were acquired from the United States. The Harpoon missiles were launched from Hai Hu (Sea Tiger), a Dutch-built conventional submarine, during a drill last week, the Liberty Times and the United Daily News said, citing unnamed naval sources. The navy started taking delivery of the missiles last year to arm two submarines. The missiles, which have a range of 278 kilometers, would boost the attack capabilities of the two submarines previously only armed with torpedoes with a limited range, naval sources were...

Taiwan's first vessel in a new class of 12 catamaran corvettes started its trials at sea. The "Tuo River" was going out at sea for the first time from Suao in northeastern Taiwan's Yilan county, where it was christened in March this year. The corvette will undergo a series of sea trials before its commissioning expected in the first half of 2015. The "Tuo River" Catamaran Corvette sailing under its own power. Picture: Internet/Lee Chung Wei This new vessel project was first unveiled during TADTE 2013, the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, in August 2013. The corvette was built...

Taiwan retires 20 fast attack missile boats (AFP) – 7 hours ago TAIPEI — Taiwan on Sunday decommissioned the last 20 of a fleet of ageing missile boats as part of ongoing efforts to modernise its military forces against former rival China, officials said. The navy bid farewell to the 50-tonne Seagull-class missile boats during a ceremony held in the southern Tsoying naval base, more than three decades after they had been put into service. The Taiwanese navy first built the missile boats, reportedly an imitation of Israel's Dvora-class patrol boats, in the late 1970s and later mass produced them...

‘Carrier killer’ program goes ahead ‘SWIFT SEA’:Between seven and 11 500-tonne stealth corvettes, each equipped with eight anti-ship cruise missiles and designed to sink carriers, are to be built by 2014 Despite hitting a snag in a recent bidding process, the navy is proceeding with the development of a stealth 500-tonne fast attack missile boat that is already being hailed as Taiwan’s “carrier killer.” Plans for the indigenous development of the 500-tonne corvette were first made public in 2009. In April the following year, Deputy Minister of National Defense Lin Yu-pao (林於豹) told the legislature that design work as part...

Taiwan plans to buy 'four warships from US' Taiwan plans to purchase four warships from the United States as part of the island's efforts to modernise its forces and offset the perceived military threat from China, local media reported on Sunday. The defence ministry briefed President Ma Ying-jeou on the proposed arms deal during a meeting last month and is prepared to set aside the budget next year, the United Daily News said, without specifying the cost. The ministry declined to comment on the report. If finalised, the arms deal will increase to 12 the total number of such warships...

Taiwan's navy will arm its submarines with anti-ship missiles for the first time ever beginning next year, a report said Wednesday, as the island boosts its defence capabilities against rival China. The Taipei-based United Daily News said the navy, which ordered the US-built Harpoon missiles in 2008, recently test-fired the weapons in the United States, in preparation for installing them on its two Dutch-built submarines. "The missiles will become operational on the two submarines next year," the newspaper said, citing an unnamed naval source. It said that the more than 30 missiles, which have a range of 120 kilometres (72...

China pans navy’s new attack boat SEA SHARKS:Although the domestic program for the stealth missile boats faced typical development issues, a defense reporter believes those have now been fixed By J. Michael Cole / Staff Reporter The Ministry of National Defense yesterday refused to comment on a report in the Chinese Communist Party-run Guangming Daily saying that the Kuang Hua VI (KH-6) fast attack missile boats that have been in service in the Taiwanese navy since 2010 were plagued by deficiencies and were a “fantasy.” Taiwan commissioned its first squadron of 11 KH-6 radar-evading fast-attack craft, produced by China Shipbuilding...

Taiwan giving up on US subs, eyeing local plan: analyst By J. Michael Cole / Staff Reporter Thu, Dec 15, 2011 - Page 1 Taiwan has all but given up on acquiring diesel-electric submarines from the US and is expected to embark on a domestic program with assistance from abroad, a leading defense analyst told the Taipei Times. Longstanding plans to augment TaiwanÂ’s small and aging submarine fleet gained momentum in 2001, when the administration of US president George W. Bush offered to provide eight diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan for about US$12 billion. With efforts going nowhere, in 2003 the...

Taiwan 'tests sub-launched missile' (AFP) – 4 hours ago TAIPEI — Taiwan has testfired for the first time a locally developed submarine-launched missile designed to counter the threat of China's fast-expanding navy, a report Thursday. An unknown number of Hsiung Feng II (Brave Wind II) ship-to-ship missiles, developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, were launched during a drill late last month, the Liberty Times said. The drill was part of the navy's five-year project to enhance the capabilities of two Dutch-built Sword Dragon class submarines acquired in the late 1980s, it said, citing an unnamed military...

Taiwan inaugurates missile ships amid buildup vow (AFP) – 18 hours ago SUAO, Taiwan — Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou inaugurated a squadron of missile boats Thursday as he pledged to continue the island's military buildup to offset the perceived military threat from China. The fleet of 10 locally manufactured missile boats joined the navy following a ceremony presided over by Ma at the northeastern naval base in Suao. Ma, the initiator of detente with the island's giant neighbour, said tensions with the mainland have eased significantly since he came to power in 2008 but insisted Taiwan needed a deterrent against...

The first of a dozen anti-submarine aircraft are set to go into service in Taiwan next year, local media reported Sunday, as East Asian governments look to counter an increasingly assertive China. Washington agreed in 2007 to sell the refurbished P-3C Orion patrol aircraft, along with three non-operational machines for spares, and "the first ones will be delivered beginning next year," the Taipei-based China Times said. "The surveillance range of Taiwan's anti-submarine fleet will expand tenfold after the P-3Cs join the navy," it quoted an unnamed military source as saying. Taiwan's navy declined to comment on the report. The P-3C...

Defense ministry denies plan to acquire submarines from Russia 2010/12/08 18:42:47 Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwan's defense ministry on Wednesday denied a news report that it is exploring the possibility of collaborating with Russia to build and acquire submarines to boost the island's defense capabilities. "There is absolutely no such plan, " Vice Defense Minister Chao Shih-chang said while fielding questions at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. The Chinese-language Next Magazine reported that a task force comprising officials of the Navy and the CSBC Corp. Taiwan visited Russia in October to discuss the...