According to the South China Morning Post, the Taiwan military has canceled a plan to build 60 micro-missile assault boats at a cost of NT$31.6 billion (US$1.1 billion), but the NT$200 million invested in the plan has been wasted. . The plan was originally intended to enhance the "asymmetric combat capabilities" against the People's Liberation Army.
"Glory Star" maritime test platform, widely rumored to be the prototype of the "miniature missile assault boat"
The Taiwan Navy said on Monday that the project proposed by the former Taiwan Army's "Chief of Staff" Li Ximing was canceled because of the design of the boat. It does not meet the operational requirements."
The plan was proposed by the former "Chief of Staff" Li Ximing.
The Taiwan Navy said in a statement that the boat completed a simulated platform test in 2020. The monitoring and evaluation results showed that due to the small size of the boat, its stability was affected by the weather. And the Walrus has large limitations, which affects the accuracy of the launch of missile , so it cannot meet combat needs. The
statement also stated that in order to avoid wastage of military investment, the Taiwan Navy has reported the case to the legislative body of the Taiwan authorities for review, and ended the project with the consent of the defense department.
Taiwan’s legislative body provided initial funding for the micro-missile assault craft project in 2018, but required it to see a prototype before committing to full funding for a planned 60 ships .
The Taiwan military has begun producing larger Tuojiang-class missile boats
This speedboat has a displacement of 40-50 tons, and its radar reflection area is similar to that of an ordinary fishing boat. It can accommodate two to three people on board, and its top speed will reach 35 knots per hour. , and can be easily hidden in fishing ports.
According to the original plan, these ships are small in size and versatile. Each ship is equipped with two "Hsiung Feng-2" missiles. They can be easily hidden in fishing ports, bays and estuaries in the Taiwan Strait, providing mobile missile launch units.
Li Ximing is still defending the plan. He claimed that what the Taiwan military really needs is "a lot of deadly, mobile, and precise little things." For example, there are a large number of micro-missile assault speedboats that can move quickly in more than 200 fishing ports across Taiwan. The People's Liberation Army's long-range missiles cannot hit them. arrive.
After Li Ximing retired in 2019, the project was shelved, reportedly due to disagreements among some senior Taiwanese military officials and Taiwan's military plans to purchase up to 100 Harpoon anti-ship missile systems from the United States.
In October last year, the then US President Trump approved the US$2.4 billion arms sales to Taiwan, which would include 400 land-based Harpoon missiles that can be launched from ground-based mobile launch vehicles.
Taiwanese media said on Monday that by the time the plan was cancelled, at least NT$200 million had been spent on the design and development of the prototype boat. However, the Taiwan Navy stated that the research and development carried out can be used as a reference for future ship projects, and the funds have not been wasted.
It was previously reported that Taiwan’s defense department has begun mass production of larger Tuojiang-class missile boats to enhance the Taiwan military’s “asymmetric combat capabilities.”
According to the Taiwan Navy, the small but powerful missile boat , dubbed the " aircraft carrier killer," is a state-of-the-art stealth warship that is harder to detect closer to the coast.
Taiwanese defense analyst Su Ziyun said that both mini-missile assault boats and Tuojiang-class missile boats have effective "asymmetric combat capabilities." He believes that the cancellation of the project was mainly due to the adjustment of priority needs, not because of the stability issues of the missile assault craft. He added that the launch (stability) of the missile depends on the radar system, not the stability of the ship at sea. He said the land-based Harpoon system is much cheaper than missile attack boats and can effectively disperse amphibious attacks in the event of a "Taiwan Strait conflict."
(Editor: YZS)
