Defense News
04/09/2012
Taiwan
Anti-Ship Missile Plan Place China’s Navy in Cross Hairs
By Wendell
Minnick
TAIPEI — Taiwan is
planning to build an extended-range anti-ship missile, possibly a variant of
the Hsiung Feng 3 (Brave Wind), to be deployed on the eastern side of the
island and aimed west toward the Taiwan Strait and China’s coast, a Taiwan
defense industry source said.
Taiwan is fielding the
300-kilometer-range, ramjet-powered, supersonic Hsiung Feng 3 aboard its eight
locally built Oliver Hazard Perry-class (Cheng Kung) frigates. The program is
code-named Hsiang Yang (Sun Facing), possibly a reference to Hsiang Yang
Mountain between the cities of Hualien and Taitung, the source said.
Taiwan’s Ministry of
National Defense (MND) denies the existence of the Hsiang Yang program.
“Frankly, I can assure
you, there is no truth to it at all,” an MND source said. However, another MND
contact confirmed plans to deploy the Hsiung Feng 3 on both coasts but said an extended-range
variant was not in the works.
Taiwan is shoring up
its inventory with a variety of new anti-ship missiles capable of being launched
from submarines, ships, coastal batteries and fighter aircraft. The effort is
part of a long-term strategy to place Chinese naval vessels and coastal
facilities under the gun.
The strategy is in
response to China’s threat to invade Taiwan if it continues ignoring Beijing’s call for unification.
Taiwan’s Navy
is modifying two Hai Lung (Sea Dragon) diesel submarines to handle 32 UGM-84L
Harpoon anti-ship missiles sold by the U.S. in 2008 for $200 million, local
defense industry and MND sources said. The work is being conducted in southern Taiwan
at Tsoying Naval Base, Kaohsiung.
Taiwan’s 256th
Submarine Squadron has only two operational submarines, procured from the
Netherlands in the 1980s. Each submarine can carry 28 torpedoes or missiles.
Taiwan has two
World War II-era Guppy diesel submarines, but they are used only for training.
Before this
program, the Dutch-built submarines were unable to handle sub-launched anti-ship
missiles, despite incorrect media reports that the Sea Dragons were capable of launching the older, locally
built Hsiung Feng 2 anti-ship missile.
The new capability
will allow Taiwan’s Navy to project force farther north and south along China’s
coastline, threatening naval ports at Hainan Island, Sandu, Shantou and
Xiazhen.
However, Taiwan’s
submarine force is more about deterrence than power projection, said Bob
Nugent, vice president, AMI International DC Operations.
“PLAN [Chinese Navy]
knowledge that a Harpoon-equipped sub threat could be positioned just outside
key ports and harbors complicates both their strategic calculus and operational
planning for naval operations outside the Straits,” he said.
Taiwan also has
shore-based Hsiung Feng 2 anti-ship missiles along the west coast facing China,
and air-launched and surface-ship launched Harpoon missiles, some with coastal suppression
systems capable of hitting land targets along China’s coast.
However, shore
batteries, ship-launched and air-launched anti-ship missiles are vulnerable to
Chinese missile strikes, yet China’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities are
very weak, thus giving Taiwan submarines a fighting chance during a war, said
Andrew Erickson, a China defense analyst at the U.S. Naval War College.
“Especially so in the
anti-surface warfare role as the PLAN begins to field key large ships —
high-value units, such as carriers and large deck amphibs (Type 071 and Type
081) — which would be the most vulnerable to sub-launched Harpoons,” Nugent
said.
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