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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan, Late To The Drone Boat Game, To Hold Major Capability Test
Faced with the growing threat of an invasion by the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwanese military and industrial leaders will hold a two-day demonstration of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). Scheduled for June 17 and June 18, the demonstration is designed to help speed up the island nation's maritime drone production, a spokesman for the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said. The move comes amid a surprising dearth of Taiwanese USVs, also known as drone boats, despite warnings from U.S. and Taiwanese officials that China could feel confident in its ability to launch a successful armed intervention against Taiwan by 2027, if not earlier. Such a conflict, as we previously reported, 'would likely become a huge drone war, with China also having made its own substantial investments in loitering munitions and swarming technologies in recent years. Chinese drones are proliferating in the air, on the ground, and at sea, and everything points to the mass use of uncrewed systems being a deciding factor in a conflict between Taiwan and China, something that has been enforced by the lessons of influential war games.' The drone boat demonstration will be hosted by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), Taiwan's top military research organization. It will take part in two phases, according to NCIST. 'Participating companies will first showcase their technologies through static displays featuring models, video presentations, and equipment exhibits at Lungteh Shipbuilding's Plant No. 6 facility,' the Taiwanese TVBS news outlet reported. 'The program will then transition to live operational demonstrations at the Jiugongli Viewing Platform, where manufacturers will establish shoreline control stations to direct unmanned vessels through real-world missions including surveillance operations and long-distance navigation tests.' The goal is to inform future military procurement specifications to expand Taiwan's drone boat fleet, the outlet noted. 'The initiative represents a significant milestone in Taiwan's broader strategy to modernize its naval defense capabilities amid regional security challenges,' TVBS posited. Spurred in part by the success of Ukraine's drone boat development, Taiwan is starting to build its own USVs. In March, we reported that Taiwan unveiled a domestically produced drone boat called the Endeavor Manta. Somewhat surprisingly, this was said to be the first of its kind to have been developed. Endeavor Manta's existence was disclosed by Taiwan's China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSBC Corp.), which produces ships and submarines for military and civilian use, during a launch event held in the port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. The event included a demonstration of the USV's at-sea capabilities. You can read more about that USV and its specifications in our original story here. NCSIST is also developing its own attack drone boat called the Kuai Chi. Details about its specifications are sparse. 'Although appearing similar to USVs being produced by private manufacturers, the Kuai Chi attack drone boat's internal guidance and control systems as well as other core technologies, are developed and produced entirely in-house by the NCSIST, ' Taiwan's CNA news agency reported. The Kuai Chi will not take part in the NCSIST demonstration. That's 'due to the sensitive nature of the project,' Sun Chun-ching, an official with the Systems Development Center at the NCSIST, told reporters during a Ministry of National Defense (MND) briefing on Wednesday. The Kuai Chi will likely undergo separate combat evaluations next month, according to CNA. Following that, the USV will be 'demonstrated to the military during a precision live-fire missile drill at Jiupeng Base in Pingtung County in August,' CNA suggested. The planned demonstration 'will simulate a battlefield scenario where the NCSIST drone boat engages various surface targets.' If those trials are successful, the Kuai Chi could be introduced to the public during the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, Sun added. The NCSIST demonstration will feature several drone boats being developed by private industry, Sun explained. 12 firms will enter the June USV demonstration in Yilan, Taiwan, with 4 live demonstrations (Thunder Tiger, Carbon-Based Technologies, Corum, and Lung Teh) and 8 additional static displays (JetSea AI, GEOSAT, Robuff, Ocean Aero, MARTAC, DSRG, Auterion, and HII).(Up Media) — Taiwan Defense News Tracker (@TaiwansDefense) May 28, 2025 All this comes as Taiwan is planning to build out its first-ever army drone units later this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is part of a broader push to modernize its forces amid escalating threats from China. The move builds on a similar initiative by the country's Marine Corps, which has already converted several tank and artillery battalions into drone units, Defense Minister Wellington Koo told the Journal. The step reflects Taiwan's growing focus on asymmetric warfare, leveraging smaller, more innovative, and more agile systems to counter the overwhelming scale of Beijing's military in the event of an invasion. 'It would be best if China wakes up every day feeling like 'today's just not the day to invade,'' Koo stated. Beyond concerns about a full-on invasion of Taiwan in the next two years, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently suggested that the PRC could also try to squeeze Taiwan by attacking two small islands close to the mainland. 'China possesses a variety of military options to coerce Taiwan, including increasing the frequency and scope of China's military presence operations, air and maritime blockades, seizure of Taiwan's smaller outlying islands, joint firepower strikes, and a full-scale amphibious invasion of Taiwan,' the DIA said in its 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment released earlier this month. Ukraine has proven the value of asymmetrical weapons like drone boats, having largely pinned down Russia's Black Sea Fleet and taken out fixed and rotary aviation with its fleet of USVs. You can see a documentary about Ukraine's sea drone effort below. While Ukraine has a very well-developed drone boat fleet, Taiwan has yet to field any operationally. It remains to be seen whether Taipei's growing urgency about its own drone boat development will provide a viable threat to China within the projected timelines of a potential PRC attack. While these small explosive-laden drone boats have their tactical disadvantages, they are uniquely well suited to making an invasion of Taiwan much harder for the Beijing's forces. Defending against them is possible in many circumstances, but doing so takes resources and attention, and can limit a ship's maneuvering. They also pose a threat to shore targets, like ships at dock and harbor facilities. When working in numbers, the proposition of stopping them becomes much harder. Taiwan could flood the channel with these weapons as one measure to at least slow a cross-channel invasion operation and increase its 'cost,' which serves as a different. While line-of-sight and satellite datalinks to control these boats can be disrupted via electronic warfare, which China's is increasingly adept at, and can help in an enemy's detection of their presence, the infusion of basic artificial intelligence will make those communications unnecessary in the near future. That is if the user is willing to accept the moral implications of allowing autonomous weapons to choose their own targets. This would make defending against these types of vessel much more challenging, leaving hard kill as the only option once they are deployed. Taken as a whole, it is somewhat concerning that Taiwan hasn't done everything possible to procure lethal drone boats, especially considering their relevance in a cross-strait conflict and their area-denial performance in the Black Sea. It also fits directly with the U.S. vision of turning the strait into a kamikaze drone 'hellscape,' not just to inflict damage on China's Navy in a war there, but to deter one from starting. So, this seems to be a case of better late than never, and this exercise should help spur further growth in this sector. But even then, Taiwan needs to get very serious about procuring these capabilities quickly, potentially including from external sources. Contact the author: howard@
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan Is Testing An Air Launched Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile
Taiwan appears to be moving toward adding a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile to its F-CK-1C/D Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF). The current timeline for the introduction of the air-launched version of the homegrown HF-3 missile is unclear, but when fully integrated, it will provide the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) with a powerful new capability to better counter China's growing naval might. A photo of an F-CK-1 carrying HF-3 missile was recently published by Taiwan's United Daily News. The image, submitted by an anonymous reader of that newspaper, appears to show test rounds of the missile, which is part of the Hsiung Feng, or Brave Wind series. One of the large missiles is carried under each wing. The jet also has a 275-gallon fuel tank under the fuselage and AIM-9P Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the wingtip stations. The HF-3 carries calibration marks, of the kind used to make it easier to monitor a store after launch. UDN published what appears to be the first clear image of an air-launched HF-3 dummy round, if not seems to have a rotating sleeve at the end for initial stabilization? — Taepodong (@stoa1984) February 21, 2025 Liberty Times just published another goes well, it could lend the F-CK-1 a second life, maybe even leading to further development of an indigenous support fighter (ISF) — that is me fantasizing. — Taepodong (@stoa1984) February 21, 2025 The article notes that the ROCAF and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) have resumed work on the air-launched HF-3, 'which was previously reported to have been stalled for a long time.' The NCSIST, which originally developed the HF-3 for launch from warships and ground launchers, is a state research and development agency broadly similar to the Pentagon's DARPA but with its own production capability. Reportedly, work originally began in 2022 to reduce the size of the HF-3 for aircraft carriage, including plans for the production of a small batch of the 'compact' version of the missile. The UDN story notes that, at some point after this, the project was suspended, but work had been restarted by September 2024, with further research and tests conducted 'in the sea and air.' As a result, the air-launched HF-3 should be ready to undergo operational evaluation later this year. The original plan for the air-launched HF-3 was intended to be completed by 2028, although it's not immediately clear if this has since changed as a result of the program pause. According to the UDN report, the air-launched version of the HF-3 is 5.5 meters (18 feet) long, with a diameter of no more than 36 centimeters (14 inches), and a weight of less than 900 kilograms (1,980 pounds). The original HF-3 was 6.1 meters (20 feet) long, with a diameter of 46 centimeters (18 inches), and weighed around 1,400kg kilograms (3,090 pounds). As an air-launched anti-ship weapon, the HF-3 offers several notable advantages over the U.S.-supplied AGM-84 Harpoon otherwise used by the ROCAF in this role — although this is not compatible with the F-CK-1, instead being used by the F-16, as you can read about here. The HF-3's liquid-fuel ramjet motor provides supersonic performance, compared to the subsonic Harpoon. With a top speed of Mach 3.5, the HF-3 is much harder to defend against. Range figures published for the missile differ, with some accounts suggesting a short-range version can hit targets at around 120-150 kilometers (75-93 miles), increasing to 300-400 kilometers (186-249 miles) in long-range form. It's unclear which version the air-launched HF-3 best corresponds to. However, launching the missile from a fast-moving fighter at altitude should help boost overall range regardless. In comparison, the air-launched Harpoon has a range of around 80 miles in the AGM-84L form that is the most capable model operated by the ROCAF. At the same time, air launch obviates the need for separate booster motors to bring the HF-3 up to the speed at which the ramjet can start to operate. According to reports, removing the solid-propellant boosters trimmed around 200 kilograms (440 pounds) from the missile's weight, helping make it more suitable for aircraft carriage. However, further weight and size-reduction measures were still necessary. Like Harpoon, the HF-3 is guided by an inertial navigation system (INS) with terminal active radar homing. In surface/ground-launched form it is armed with a 265-pound high-explosive, semi-armor piercing warhead, although this may well be smaller in the air-launched version. The warhead is reportedly triggered by a smart fuse designed to direct most of the explosive energy downward, into the ship's hull, for maximum destructive effect. Chinese naval forces have been rapidly expanding in recent years, in general, which has already prompted the Taiwanese military to seek a variety of new and improved anti-ship capabilities. Anti-ship missiles launched from the land, from warships, and from ROCAF fighters are already a very important component of Taiwan's defensive plans, designed to thwart a potential Chinese move on the island. In an ROCAF context, TWZ has previously reported: 'The pairing of F-16 and AGM-84 Harpoon is a key element in Taiwan's ability to defend important strategic waterways and territorial claims against a maritime opponent. The ROCAF operates a mix of older Harpoons plus the newer Block II AGM-84Ls.' You can read more about Taiwan's AGM-84s here and about the missile in general in this past TWZ piece. The air-launched HF-3 would be a potent complement to the Harpoon. This is especially true when it comes to pushing anti-ship missile kill zones farther from Taiwan's shores and in a far more unpredictable and responsive manner. However, it would likely be limited to carriage by the F-CK-1, at least in the shorter term. If a war with China were to break out, anti-ship missiles of all kinds would be absolutely critical in providing Taiwan with any hope of slowing an all-out advance by the People's Liberation Army Navy. As such, the continued effort to field a more capable air-launched anti-ship missile is increasingly seen as a necessary deterrent as tensions between Taipei and Beijing continue. Contact the author: thomas@
