Taiwan Retires 20 Fast Attack Missile Boats*

TAIPEI — Taiwan decommissioned the last 20 of a fleet of aging missile boats on July 1 as part of ongoing efforts to modernize its military forces against former rival China, officials said.

The navy bid farewell to the 50-ton Seagull-class missile boats during a ceremony held in the southern Tsoying naval base, more than three decades after they had been put into service.

The Taiwanese navy first built the missile boats, reportedly an imitation of Israel’s Dvora-class patrol boats, in the late 1970s and later mass produced them in the early 1980s.

The navy had thought the fleet, numbering around 50, would act as “hit and run” boats should a conflict break out in the Taiwan Strait.

With a maximum speed of 74 kilometers (46 miles) per hour, each of the boats was armed with Hsiungfeng I (Brave Wind I) ship-to-ship missiles.

The Seagull boats have now been replaced by 30 missile boats built under the so-called “Kuang Hwa No 6 Project” launched in 2000.

Each of the 171-ton vessels is armed with four Hsiungfeng II missiles, an improved version of the Hsiungfeng I.

Ties between Taiwan and China have eased markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008, ramping up trade and allowing in more Chinese tourists.

But Beijing still refuses to renounce the use of force, even though Taiwan has been self-governing since the end of a civil war in 1949, prompting the island to continue to modernize its defense forces.

* Notícia publicada a Defence News. La modernització de la flota taiwanesa continua; sense dubte l'aposta per la qualitat és una de les poques vies que Taiwan té per mantenir l'statu quo amb la Xina.