BUILDING CAPACITY: A defense source said that the US has offered to sell Taiwan vertical launch systems, but Taiwan would prefer to develop such technology locally

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 18, 2018
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

US technical assistance would help Taiwan upgrade its indigenous missile systems and could provide key technologies needed to develop a vertical launch system for warships, a defense official said on condition of anonymity.

Commenting on the Taiwan-US cooperative agreement in defense-related research, the official said that US technical assistance is expected to speed up the nation’s ongoing efforts to upgrade the Hsiung Feng, Tien Chien and Tien Kung families of missiles.

Moreover, US know-how could facilitate the military’s program to develop a vertical launch system for the navy’s planned next-generation frigate and the principal surface warfare combatant, which has struck a technical bottleneck, the official said.

Although US officials have suggested directly selling vertical launch systems, Taiwanese officials have expressed a preference to obtain the necessary technologies and develop a system locally through visits to US research facilities and joint research programs, the official said.    [FULL  STORY]