Taiwan ex-Air Force colonel sentenced to 20 years for leaking Taiwan secrets

A former Air Force colonel was sentenced Monday to 20 years and an accomplice to 15 years by the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch for leaking military secrets to China.The court found that former colonel Hao Chih-hsiung, who served in the 439 Combined Wing at Pingtung Air Base, worked with karaoke parlor owner Wan Tsung-lin to sell information regarding E-2K, an all-weather airborne warning and control system, to China's intelligence agencies through Wan's business contacts in China.

Hao and Wan can appeal the verdict.Prosecutors and military officials began investigating the case last June, leading them to discover money that had not been accounted for and funds transferred from China in bank accounts belonging to the two. They were detained in March on charges of violating the National Security Act and indicted for leaking military secrets.

Taiwanese AH-64E crash into residential building Video

Taiwan's brand new AH-64E Apache helicopter crashes

The co-pilot of one of Taiwan's new AH-64E Apache helicopters was the only one injured when the attack helicopter crashed into a residential building in Taoyuan County Friday morning during flight training, the Army said.Early reports said both the pilot and co-pilot had been injured.

The aircraft had to make a forced landing on top of the three-story building because of an emergency situation. The Army said it was mostly intact despite the rough landing, and no other injuries, civilian or military, had been reported.Liu Ming-hui, the 35-year-old co-pilot who was in control of the aircraft sustained only minor scratches to his face, the Army Aviation Special Forces Command said.

The accident occurred at around 10 a.m. during a flight training supervised by pilot Chen Lung-chien, an instructor who received Apache flight training in the United States, the Army said.The Army said it has formed a joint investigation team with technical representatives from the United States to look into possible causes behind the accident, which may be due to human error or mechanical failure.

Taiwan air force to start upgrading F-16s from 2016

Taiwan's air force said Friday that it will begin the process of upgrading its fleet of over 100 F-16A/B fighter jets in the second half of 2016.Before upgrading its entire fleet of the fighters, Taiwan has sent several of the planes to the United States for a trial to see if the upgrade will work. The planes will be brought back to Taiwan once they pass the testing process, the air force said.

If all goes well, Taiwan will then buy the parts and gain the necessary expertise from the US to upgrade the rest of its fleet.Air force sources, however, did not give a timetable on when all the fighter jets can be upgraded.The United States had agreed to upgrade Taiwan's F-16A/B fighters after Taiwan's government had repeatedly asked to buy 66 of the newer generation F-16C/D fighters from the US, without getting an affirmative answer.

Taiwan's government has argued that its military needs the more advanced C/D fighters to replace its aging fleets of indigenous, French and US-built fighter aircraft. But it has been reported that after the upgrades, the A/B fighters will match the performance of C/D fighters.

Taiwan's Apache helicopters could defeat two divisions of PLA

30 AH-64E Apache attack assault helicopters purchased from the United States by the adminstration of Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou for the Republic of China Army are capable of defeating two divisions of the People's Liberation Army's amphibious forces according to the Canada-based Kanwa Defense Review operated by Andrei Chang, also known as Pinkov, a military analyst in Canada.

Developed during the later period of Cold War, the primary mission for the Apache helicopter was to confront Soviet armoured vehicles in massive numbers on an expected invasion of Western Europe. The article goes on to say that 19 Apache helicopters would have been capable of wiping out a division of Soviet tanks during battle. Taiwan's 30 helicopters, would, by projection, be able to defeat around two divisions of the PLA infantry if they were to attempt to conduct a landing operation against Taiwan.

With more real combat experience than any other attack helicopter in the world, the AH-64 is capable of carrying double the amount of rockets, missiles and munitions that the Chinese WZ-10 helicopter can carry and has a top speed of 293 kilometers per hour, a cruise speed of 265 km/h and a combat radius of 480 km. The WZ-10, on the other hand, has a top speed of 270 km/h, a cruise speed of 230 km/h and a combat radius of 400 km.

The WZ-19 helicopters are no match for the AH-64E either, as they were designed to fight against Taiwan's AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter. Since both the WZ-10 and the WZ-19 were both constructed domestically in China, new helicopters can be resupplied after combat loss while the AH-64E can't, however.

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Taiwan to receive six more Apache helicopters

One of the Apache helicopters delivered to Kaohiung Harbor, Jan. 2. (File photo/Hsieh Ming-tso)

A shipment of six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from the United States is set to arrive in southern Taiwan Monday 17-03-2014, and they will later be flown to a base in Tainan, according to a military source.

The Apaches are scheduled to arrive at Kaohsiung Harbor around mid-day Monday, and will be flown to an Army Aviation Special Forces base in the neighboring city of Tainan after passing initial checks, the source said.This will be the third shipment of a 30-helicopter package that is costing Taiwan more than US$2 billion.The Army said it has also begun deploying the 12 Apache helicopters Taiwan took delivery of to an Army base in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. All 30 helicopters will be stationed at the Taoyuan base in the future, it added.

The process of taking delivery of the helicopters has not been without snags. Taiwan was notified by the US in mid-December of a main transmission failure on an Apache AH-64E in service in the US, forcing Taiwan to ground the first six helicopters it received in November.The second group had also been grounded since its arrival in Taiwan in early January.All 12 helicopters, however, have since been fitted with new main transmission boxes and were put back into service recently after completing test flights and safety verifications, according to an Army official.

The final two batches of six choppers will each be delivered with new transmissions later this year, and are expected to arrive in May and July, respectively, the official said.The model E is the latest in the Apache attack helicopter series. The U.S. and Taiwan are the only two countries that use the latest Apache helicopter model so far.