Stronger Taiwan air force hangars seen to be no match for Chinese military’s new ballistic missiles
- Taiwan aims to build 36 new missile-proof hangars at its Taichung airbase
- Chinese short-range missiles designed for precision strikes with bigger payloads may render those plans futile, military experts say
04:45
Taiwanese president calls mainland China military exercises ‘irresponsible’ as PLA missiles fly
Chang cited a promotional video for the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) export version M20, also called the DF-12 surface-to-surface short-range tactical missile, to explain his point.
He said the four-tonne (8,820 pounds) Dongfeng (DF) missile could be armed with “fuel-air warheads”, which use oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion to completely destroy targets.
“With a less than one metre (3.3 feet) of circular error probability [for the missiles], all efforts to reinforce fighter jet hangars in Taiwan would amount to nothing when dealing with the PLA,” Chang said, referring to the measure of a weapon system’s precision.
This comes after Taiwan’s defence ministry sought continued funding for its seven-year plan to build 36 new hangars at the air force’s largest base in the central city of Taichung.