Taiwan's Ship-Killer Missile for PLAN Warships Sent to China for Fixing

Taiwan's ship-killer missile to attack PLAN warships has a rumple as it needs to be sent for repairs in China.

Taiwan's Ship-Killer Missile Encounters Malfunctions

The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taiwan created and produced the lethal Hsiung-Feng III (Brave Wind III) anti-ship missile (NCSIST), reported The EurAsian Times.

This supersonic projectile does have a 250-mile range, which is enough to encompass both the width and length of the Taiwan Strait and can attack both land and sea targets. Due to its supersonic velocity, the rocket has also been named "Carrier Killer" and can carry a 500-pound warhead that can pierce armor.

Theodolites used to fine-tune the rockets, which had been transported to China by a Swiss manufacturer to be fixed due to system failures, as shown by the Mirror Media on January 4, mentioned Defense Aerospace.

The action can reveal important potential information from missile tests, jeopardizing Taiwan's national defense, as said by Taiwanese media. This element in question is produced by the Swiss company Leica Geosystems. It is commonly used in shipbuilding, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries to quantify large objects precisely.

Leica Builder T100/T200 would be the company's top-of-the-line electronic theodolite with exceptional telephoto lens optics, allowing it to efficiently and precisely assess a wide range of azimuths only in 0.5 seconds.

As reported by Taiwan News, the Ministry of National Defense has lately increased the number of new spanning theodolites it purchases for artillery pieces.

The NCSIST found that the connecting pins of two Leica theodolites had already become loose. A company distribution company in New Taipei City's Xindian District sent gear back to Switzerland in early December 2021 and late February 2022, so Leica Geosystems could perform maintenance.

However, as said by people who are acquainted with the situation, the repair work has been made easier, and the two theodolites were handed back to NCSIST in February and May of 2022, including both.

Theodolites' measurements of the Hsiung Feng missiles were standardized after the equipment was repaired. Even so, it was not until September 2022 that NCSIST staffers glanced over the import customs declaration and other papers provided by Leica Geosystems' maintenance center and started to notice there needed to be something corrected.

Paperwork demonstrates that the equipment had already been brought back to Taiwan from the Chinese city of Qingdao in Shandong Province. It implies that the instrument was either repaired in China or sent to Taiwan via China, in which case the Chinese military would have access to data on missile systems or other requirements.

Taiwanese Missiles Designed To Target PLAN Warships

In a press statement on January 4, the NCSIST mentioned that theodolite is an optical correction tool used to measure the missile body, launch box, frame, and other elements on its manufacturing production line. It does not restrict the continuing position of the Hsiung Feng projectile.

The confidentiality of Taiwan's weapons program was a matter of concern in the earlier days. For using Chinese products for manufacturing missile parts destined to be manufactured by US businesses, three staff members of two Taiwanese suppliers have been given sentences spanning from four to ten years behind bars through 2022.

Taiwan's ship-killer missile had some problems and needed to be repaired to be effective against PLAN warships.