Posted on 11/04/2013 12:40:31 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
La Fayette frigates' missile upgrade set for 2017
Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The surface-to-air missiles on the Navy's fleet of La Fayette Class frigates will be replaced with a more advanced system starting in 2017, a senior Naval officer said Monday.
The U.S.-made RIM-72C Sea Chaparral missiles will be replaced with Taiwan's own Sky Sword IIs, Navy Chief of Staff Kao Tien-chung said when answering questions at the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee.
The ship-based Sky Sword II, or Tien Chien II, is a variant of the radar guided air-to-air missile developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) under the Ministry of National Defense.
It has a range of about 100 kilometers, compared with the Sea Chaparral's 10 km. The U.S.-made missiles were first deployed by the Navy in the early 1970s.
Taiwan took delivery of its first 3,200-ton La Fayette frigate from France in 1996. All six frigates are equipped with French-made surveillance and combat systems, although the weapon systems are all made in the United States or Taiwan.
sleek
Yep, and without all that extra superstructure, it is more stealthy.
I would think so.
Not that I have any idea how much more stealthy
Me either. I don’t know how stealthy a large ship can get. Maybe if they conducted a new version of the Philadelphia Experiment.
Sea Chaparal was essentially a surface to air version of the early Sidewinder. It wasn’t successful at all. The US Navy declined to buy it. The land based version was used by the Army for a relatively short period.
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