Taiwan Navy Opens Anti-ship missile base in eastern Taiwan

The nation's navy opened yesterday a military base with Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles in eastern Taiwan to the media for the first time.

Officers and their men gave a demonstration of operations concerning installing and hanging the missiles onto the right positions 

for launching as well as removing them from missile racks afterward.

The naval missile base, called “Guhai” (“fortifying the sea” in Chinese) military base, is nestled in a mountain region in eastern Hualien.

With a camouflage that disguises the military base as an area for ordinary building compounds, the roof tiles of the structures have the special effects of deflecting satellite searches by unfriendly forces or parties.

There are housing units for residents and commercial hotels for tourists near the base.

The structures housing the missiles and troops can be easily mistaken for villas at a tourist resort.

Some of the missile facilities are concealed and some others are mounted on heavy-duty trucks for high mobility.
 

Troops handling Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles have regularly taken part in large-scale military exercises, including live fire tests in war games.

But this is the first time the navy has let reporters make an onsite tour of the military facilities.

The Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles measure 4.8 meters in length and can hit targets more than 100 kilometers away.

Taiwan's Secret Missiles

A government official revealed that Taiwan had developed a IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) with a range of 2,000 kilometers. The missile was successfully tested three years ago. Nothing was said about production. Seven years ago, Taiwanese officials discussed developing a 2,000 kilometer range IRBM, and manufacturing 30 of them, along with 120 with a range of 1,000 kilometers. Over the last decade, there have been reports of several different Taiwanese ballistic and cruise missiles developed for use against China. But few of these have been produced, or have been manufactured under great secrecy. Meanwhile, China has deployed about 1,500 ballistic missiles within range of Taiwan. A decade ago, Taiwan apparently deployed 50 Tien Chi (Sky Spear) SRBM (Short Range Ballistic Missiles). Half were in silos on Tungyin Island, and the rest in some other location. Like most of Taiwan's Surface-to-surface missiles, it was based on a locally developed surface-to-air missile (in this case, Tien Kung 2/Sky Bow 2), with the addition of a booster to extend the range. The Tien Chi had a range of about 500 kilometers, but a small (100 kg/220 pound) warhead. The new IRBMs have a warhead of about half a ton.
Taiwan does not have nuclear weapons, although the nation possesses the technical resources to develop such weapons, and perform the engineering work to make these nukes function in a ballistic missile. But Taiwan would be taking a big risk to attempt development of nukes. If China got word of the project, before useable warheads were in service (and thus able to dissuade China from attacking), the Chinese might well invade right away, or at least try to)
Strategy Page.

Straight Out Of Nowhere; The DF-16

Taiwan revealed that China has deployed a new ballistic missile, the DF (Dongfeng) 16 and that some of them are aimed at Taiwan. The DF-16 has never been mentioned publically before. It appears to be an upgrade of the DF-15, as the Taiwanese announcement only described the DF-16 as having a "longer range." Most of the 1,600 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan are DF-11 and DF-15 models. The DF-11 (also known as the M11) weighs 4.2 tons, has a range of 300 kilometers and carries a .8 ton warhead. The DF-15 (M9) weighs 6.2 tons, has a range of 700 kilometers and carries a half ton warhead. Both of these are solid fuel missiles, so the DF-16 probably would be as well. A "longer range" DF-15 would likely weigh over eight tons and have a range of 1,000 kilometers or more. Or something like that. No one else has mentioned a DF-16 missile, but the Chinese were known to have been continuing work on the DF-11/DF-16 class missiles, particularly warhead design (as in penetration aids to defeat anti-missile systems.) Give it a few months, and more details will come out.

Strategy Page.

Taiwan to Develop Precision Guided Missile To Strike Chinese Military Bases In The Event OF War

Taiwan plans to develop a long-distance precision-guided missile which would be able to strike military bases along China's southeastern coastline in the event of war, a legislator said Monday.

Taiwan's defence ministry has budgeted Tw$30 million ($1.04 million) for developments including the design of the missile bases and safety systems, said Lin Yu-fang, a lawmaker who sits on the national defence committee.
But Lin, of the ruling Kuomintang party, said there were still only a few details available on the new weapon.

Taiwan's defence ministry declined to comment on his remarks.
Lin said the missile, along with several other home-made weapons systems such as the Hsiungfeng (Brave Wind) 2E cruise missile, would be used as an effective deterrent should China launch military action against the island.

"In case of war, Taiwan would be able to use the weapon to strike the air-defence and ballistic missile bases deployed along China's southeastern coastline," he said.

"This could be done without sending jet fighters near the mainland targets, and avoid risking the pilots' lives."

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing have eased markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008 on a platform of beefing up trade links and allowing in more Chinese tourists.

But Beijing still refuses to renounce the possible use of force against Taiwan even though the island has ruled itself since the end of a civil war in 1949.

Spacedaily