TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Coast Guard will conduct live-fire drills in waters off the coast of eastern Taiwan following Chinese war games this month.
The Coast Guard announced on April 24 that the Taitung and Chenggong patrol vessels will conduct live-fire exercises on May 9 and May 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with May 12 set as an alternate date, per Liberty Times. The exercise area is waters east of Hualien, which serves as a maritime passage from the Port of Hualien to the Western Pacific and a vital route for naval dispersal.
The Coast Guard’s notification said the two participating vessels will employ Zhenhai launchers with 2.75-inch rockets, Bofors 40mm guns, T-75 20mm cannons, T-75 light machine guns, and T65 assault rifles. The firing altitude will range from sea level up to approximately 457 meters.
The Taitung is a Miaoli-class offshore patrol vessel in service since May 2016. It has a full-load displacement of nearly 1,900 tons and, at a cruising speed of 15 knots, a maximum range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,112 km).
The vessel is primarily armed with a Bofors 40mm rapid-fire gun mounted on the bow, a T-75 20mm cannon on the stern, and two T-75 squad machine guns mounted on each side.
The Chenggong is the second ship of the 600-ton Anping-class offshore patrol vessels. It is a Coast Guard version of the Navy’s Tuo Chiang-class corvette, featuring a wave-piercing catamaran design.
During peacetime, it is equipped with a Zhenhai rocket system and a short-range automated defense weapon system. In wartime, it can be outfitted with up to eight Hsiung Feng II and eight Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles, as well as a Phalanx close-in weapon system, making it the Coast Guard’s primary platform for "peacetime-to-wartime" operational conversion.
