Taiwan’s armed forces have completed the first live-fire trial of a Hsiung Feng II (HF-2) anti-ship missile from a Taiwan Coast Guard Anping-class cutter.
The country’s annual live-fire drill took place on May 27 and saw its navy and coast guard sink a target off Orchid Island in the eastern territorial waters with land-based HF-3 anti-ship missiles and shipborne HF-2 missiles.
The drill represented an opportunity for the first live-fire trial of the HF-2 from the coast guard’s new class of cutters.
The evolution was aimed at assessing the viability of using these coast guard ships as warfare assets during times of conflict.
Following the missile firing, cutter Anping (CG -601) will have the missile launchers removed at the Tsoying naval base before proceeding to a Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Company (JSSC) yard for the evaluation of the missile firing’s impact on the ship. JSSC is the prime contractor on the Anping-class project and has delivered four units so far, out of a planned 12 cutters.
“Republic of China (ROC) armed forces conducted the annual training at Jiupeng and the eastern territorial waters to verify the joint combat capabilities of ROC Navy, ROC Air Force, and ROC Coast Guard,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Friday. “We have the means and the will to defend our territory and democracy.”
The HF-2 missile fired by Anping was developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan and deployed in the 1990s. In addition to land and ship-based launchers, the anti-ship missile can be employed by fighter aircraft and can be carried by the ROC Air Force’s F-CK fighters. The missile has a range of around 100 to 120 kilometers and carries an explosive payload of 220 kilograms.
