Posted on 08/06/2022 1:07:58 PM PDT by libh8er
As the Chinese military conducts military drills around Taiwan, the self-governing island appears to be preparing for any potential attack by outfitting its four F-16V (Vipers) with lethal weapons, including Harpoon missiles, to defend the country’s east coast, reported Liberty Times.
Following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army of China announced sharp military drills in six regions bordering Taiwan and entering its territorial waters.
Since then, Chinese military aircraft and warships have been conducting drills near the Taiwan Strait, and many of them are still active in the eastern seas.
Taiwan’s Hualien Air Force Base is reportedly ready to scramble its four fully loaded F-16V fighters, each outfitted with two air-launched anti-ship harpoon missiles, to defend the nation’s east coast.
There has been a lot of activity at the Air Force’s Hualien Base recently. According to the report, general training tasks have all been stopped and transitioned to combat readiness tasks.
The base has prepared more than ten combat readiness mission aircraft, most of which are equipped with short-range sidewinder missiles and AIM-120 advanced medium-range missiles.
Four are F-16Vs, each equipped with two AIM-120 advanced medium-range missiles, two short-range sidewinder missiles, two air-launched AGM-84 harpoon missiles, and an ALQ-184 electric warfare capsule, and two auxiliary fuel tanks under the mid-abdomen.
Upon receiving the order, these aircraft can immediately take to the air and launch a direct attack on the warships of the PLA Navy.
The Ministry of National Defense emphasized that the country’s military has employed various surveillance and investigation methods to watch the entire process to avoid escalating the situation constantly. The ministry stated they wished to uphold the principle of preparing for war and not seeking war.
The Air Force officers, who appeared to be confident in their abilities, claimed that they could sink China’s ships with absolute certainty as long as the Ministry of National Defense gave them the order, adding that “one is not enough, then two, one is not enough, then another, until it sinks!”
The Harpoon (RGM-84/UGM-84/AGM-84) is a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile developed in the United States and has been used since 1977. Since its inception, various variants have been developed, including air, ship, and sub-launched versions.
The Harpoon has also been upgraded several times to improve its range and guidance. The missile has also been modified for use on various aircraft, including the P-3 Orion, A-6 Intruder, S-3 Viking, AV-8B Harrier II, F/A-18 Hornet, and US Air Force B-52H bombers, F-16s.
Variants of this missile have been exported to nearly 30 countries, including Taiwan, Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the majority of NATO countries.
Taiwan’s Frigate Shadows PLA Navy’s Warship?
Images of a Taiwanese Navy Cheng Kung-class frigate purportedly following a China PLA Navy Type 052C destroyer (hull number 150) in the southwest waters of Kao-hsiung Harbor are going viral on the internet.
The incident, according to reports, happened at 8 am on August 5. The country’s Naval Command made no comment on the matter, but neither confirmed nor denied it.
It only stated that naval warships’ joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mechanisms could efficiently comprehend the dynamics of ships in the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s defense ministry stated on August 4 that it would take the necessary steps to defend Taiwan’s airspace and territory. Just before August 4, two F-16 sorties carrying live missiles departed from Hualien Air Base.
Another F-16 with live missiles was seen near an air base in Chiayi and a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission.
The Cheng Kung class are guided-missile frigates currently serving in the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy (ROCN). They were produced by China Shipbuilding Corporation in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, under license, during the 1990s, as a component of the Kuang Hua I project. They are centered on the US Oliver Hazard Perry class.
Before the Taiwanese Navy acquired the Keelung (Kidd)-class destroyers in 2005, these frigates were the ROCN’s theater air defense. The frigates are 453 feet long (138 meters), 46.95 feet wide (14.31 meters), and have a displacement of 4,103 long tons (4,169 t) when fully loaded. Their top speed is 29 knots or 54 km/h.
The SPS-49(V)5 air-to-air search radar, which operates in the C/D band and has a maximum search range of 460 kilometers, is the primary air-to-air detection system of the Cheng Kung class. This radar has a peak power of 360 kW and an average power of 13 kW.
The ship’s MK92 Mod.6 launch control system, which uses STIR-240 for guidance, can launch up to 6 rounds per minute. For air defense, it can also employ the MK15 square array, 40mm/L70 fast gun, and MK75 Type 76 fast gun.
I have thought of the three gorges dam possibility as well. Taiwan could probably make a tactical nuke and add some cobalt 60 and it would pop the dam and flood everything downstream with radioactivity that would make uninhabitable for a hundred years.
I think the idea of hitting TGD is to deter the CCP from invading Taiwan in the first place. And Taiwan is capable of it without the US, so it is like a Mutual Assured Destruction scenario.
However, like any doomsday weapon you would have to NOT keep it a secret in order to deter.
“Only 4? They should have at least 100”
Could be disinformation.
“ Their land-based stuff can hit pretty much anything made by man”
What makes you so sure ? They can’t even predict where their deorbited satellite will crash or make it descend in a controlled manner.
Once upon a time the Russians used to be an invincible superpower until they invaded a little country supplied with western weapons. Then they faced humiliation. Everything we know about Chinese capabilities is through propaganda videos and intelligence sources. We have never seen anything in actual combat.
That fleet will last nanoseconds in all out combat. Wow!
Yes. For some reason we haven't seen China's nuclear missiles used in actual combat. What are they hiding?
Seriously: war is the only true test of a country's warfighting capability. The cost of testing a peer enemy in the crucible of actual war is very high.
So we use models, wargames, exercises to establish what facts we can, relatively cheaply. We watch proxy wars very carefully. And when proxy wars break out (that's about the most neutral way I can put it) we feed weapon systems into them.
Proxy wars are serious conflicts with deadly stakes, but at a distance. We don't get shelled, Donekst does.
Proxy wars are also laboratories of war: where we can test an opponent while the costs and risks are carried by someone else.
For instance we have been able to test Russia's warfighting capability at a safe remove: using Ukraine as the proxy.
Russia (it turns out) has a build strategy based on aerial denial, massive application of artillery and old-school industrial warfare. Their conventional global reach is minimal. No-one is impressed by their surface navy. But their ability to wage large-scale land war on their own border, and to stare NATO down while doing it - that is beyond doubt.
We have also been able to test Russia's economic resilience with sanctions and confiscation. Europe was the proxy in this case, and ... yikes. It's going to be a cold winter for them.
I don't know where you got your information, but according to F-16.net:
"The Republic of China Air Force operates a total of 150 F-16A/B block 20 aircraft, which are essentially identical to MLU aircraft. Taiwan is planning to acquire 66 F-16C/D block 70 aircraft in the near future, mainly to counter the perceived threat from mainland China."
The F-16V is a program to upgrade the F-16A/B block 20 aircraft to F-16C/D block 70 avionics.
Taiwan Has Declared Its Upgraded F-16V Fighter Jets Fully Operational
According to the article above:
"Originally, the ROCAF expected to receive 144 F-16Vs, which are conversions of its existing F-16A/B jets, but this number has since been reduced to 141 through attrition in its existing Viper fleet...
...Work to retrofit the whole fleet is due for completion by the end of 2023."
IMHO, this upgrade is a significant boost in Taiwan's defense capability. My only question is how many "Harpoons" and "Aim-120s" will be sold to Taiwan?
https://www.militaryfactory.com/modern-airpower/aircraft-republic-of-china-air-force-taiwan.php
and didn't cross check.
I used to hammer my students for doing just that. Complacency on my part.
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