Taiwan plans to buy US frigates despite China thaw







(AFP) – January 11, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/artic...wymptRbd3KJGjSw

TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to buy eight second-hand Perry-class frigates from the United States despite improved ties with once-bitter foe China, a local newspaper reported Monday.

The island hopes to arm them with a version of the advanced Aegis Combat System, which uses computers and radar to take out multiple targets, as well as sophisticated missile launch technology, the Taipei-based China Times said.

The defence ministry said in a reaction to the report that aging frigates now serving the navy needed to be phased out, but that it had not yet decided on the type of vessels that would replace them.

"The overall strategy of the armed forces will be taken into consideration as the defence ministry evaluates the plan," it said in a statement, adding that the budget would be another factor to be weighed.

The United States designed the Perry-class frigates in the 1970s but the majority remain in service, equipped with various forms of modern technology.

The deal would add to Taiwan's existing inventory, as it already has eight Perry-class frigates built on the island.

The China Times report came less than a week after the US Defense Department said it had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.

This is a big waste of money.
The island is really close to China. Only 100 miles. These ships are useless, and won't last 10 minutes in a fight.
Taiwan really needs to build more missles and sophisticated satellites, so that it can fend out any possible agression.

I think Taiwan realizes it's kinda fcked.

so might as well purchase a lot of US technology right before the unification right?

China will reward the Taiwanese very handsomely for "helping" us get the US technology hehe.

Taiwan is very agressive in their fight for continue independence. The DPP just won a dozen counties in Taiwan elections last week.
This purchase is to establish continue friendship with the USA.
China is not interested in Technology from Taiwan. China has already stolen quite a bit of Tech already.

That doesn't look like a battle ship. It looks like some support ship. What is the military strategic point in adding them to Taiwan's arsenal?

Wouldn't jets and missiles be the best weapons?

bunch of junks from junkyard.

Armament: One single-arm Mk 13 Missile Launcher with a 40-missile magazine that contains SM-1MR anti-aircraft guided missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Removed from the U.S. Navy ships starting in 2003, due to the retirement of the SM-1 missile from American service
Two triple Mark 32 Anti-submarine warfare torpedo tubes with Mark 46 or Mark 50 anti-submarine warfare torpedoes
One OTO Melara 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun
One 20 mm Phalanx CIWS rapid-fire cannon
Eight Hsiung Feng II SSM or four HF-2 and 4 HF-3 supersonic AShM, plus 2 Bofors 40mm/L70 guns on Taiwanese vessels only)





And you say that they're "support vessels?" Get real, give us a break.

I'm not up to date on my military tech but,

I do know that the U.S. has fighters like the F-22 and Harpoon missiles to take out ships - I even heard of supersonic anti-ship missiles in the works by several nations. Other countries are developing their own military gear or upgrading by buying from countries that can afford the R&D. In a real battle against a game opponent, ships like that will be blasted out of the water like the Iraqi Tanks were taken out in dessert storm.

The specs listed above do not impress me. The basic purpose of a ship is to project power and create a platform for military presence. Taiwan will be paying mostly for the boats and not the firepower. There are better ways to spend the money and get more bang for the buck.

Simply put, the U.S. is getting rid of these ships. The U.S. finds these ships out dated for a reason.

The F-22's primary mission is air superiority. It would be extremely unusual for a Raptor to be delegated the job of attacking enemy surface naval vessels. Such a mission would be the employ of Super Hornets, Lightning IIs, submarines, and other surface combatants.





Taiwan is one of those nations. The Hsiung-Feng III (HF-3) antiship missile has a speed of Mach 3 and serves as a counterweight to China's SS-N-22 Sunburn in many respects.




Military equipment isn't just meant for wartime. In peacetime, it serves as deterrence, along with supporting long-distance missions, providing force projection, and also visiting Taiwan's Itu Aba (Taiping) islands and perhaps even participation in international operations.





Want to name a few?

from what I know, Perry's specialty is subs so in Taiwan's point of view, it makes sense as China has a lot of conventional and nuclear subs. However they would need to be modernized to become effective today

Waste of money. It's pretty much protection money paid to America.

By your logic, China pays "protection money" to Russia all the time.

Of course its protection money. Obviously they dont want to buy it but keep getting pressured to.

How? Russia sells them their newest stuff and China reverse engineers it. Taiwan is just getting old crap from America at inflated prices. This is common knowledge in Taiwan.

I don't see the Kilo-class, Su-27SK, etc. being Russia's "newest" stuff.




Again, there's always an urge to "put down" military equipment of the opposing side.

The Su-27SK was back in the 90s. Russia sold them to all their customers back then not just China. But Russia offered much more advanced Su-27 variants, Su-30xxx, SU-34 and other advanced SU-family. They are regarded as pretty advance tech in Russian inventory. The Russian didn't sold their much higher end tech because of China's great r/e ability, whereas US knows Taiwan won't r/e but still sold/pressured Taiwan into buying over priced old junks. So, Mndeg was right, it's a waste of money and more or less are protection money paid to America.

Like I said I don't know the capacity or names of the current hottest weapons.

In terms of a basic non specific discussion, I can comment.

First, no ships. Ships cost a lot of money and are used for projecting power. Also, attack will come from air and/or sea. It is in this defense that focus should be placed.

1) Interceptor planes, to intercept incoming air and sea attacks.
2) missiles for air-to -air and air-to-ship.
3) Air -to -submarine defenses.( read about planes/helicopters that drops sonar buoys that send back sonar info to aircraft. detecting and locating subs. A torpedo is programmed with data and launched into the water to sink sub.

There is more. But I believe this is at the core of what Taiwanese military should focus on.

Do supply us with some comparative price info on US arms exports to other foreign nations of AH-64D, Link-16, F-16 Block 20, Stinger MANPADS, AGM-114, AGM-65, AGM-84, AIM-120C, AIM-9M, TOW-2A/B, FF-1052 Knox class warships, Javelin, JTIDS, Pave Paws, M-109A6 Paladin, Po Sheng MIDS, C-130H Hercules, Pathfinder/Sharpshooter pods, AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods, TH-67 Creek, AH-1W Cobra, MK-46 Mod 5, AN/MPN-14, SH-2F LAMPS, IMSE, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, M-60A3, CH-47SD, SH-60 Seahawk, E-2T Hawkeye, and MD-500 Defender.



Otherwise the claim that US weaponry is "overpriced" is unproven and not demonstrated.

I agree with all of your points - strongly so. But it's not that Taiwan hasn't been focusing on these points. It's that Taiwan's been unable to do much about it.






1) Interceptor aircraft - Taiwan's been trying to buy F-16 Block 52 fighters from the US for the past four years - 66 jets. US has never approved. Other nations like France or Sweden refuse to sell. Taiwan doesn't have the aerospace talent to build a fighter of sufficient caliber. What can Taiwan do?


2) Missiles- Agree - Taiwan faces a critical deficiency of AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and also air-launched Hsiung Feng and Harpoon, in my belief. I believe that Taiwan has placed orders of 200 and 218 AMRAAM missiles, respectively, and 235 more Mavericks. Ideally, Taiwan would procure at least 2,000 more of these missiles, as many self-manufactured as possible. However, the few fighters that Taiwan has would already be hard-pressed to stay alive in the midst of murderous combat with PLAAF fighters.


3) Anti-submarine defenses- Taiwan's already in the process of purchasing 12 Orion antisubmarine aircraft from the United States. And Taiwan already has MD-500 and SH-60 helicopters whose job it is to detect and destroy enemy submarines. More could be done (always could.) Again, there's a limited budget.