David Axe, military correspondent for Forbes News, reports that the ROC military has accidentally leaked a secret – quietly transporting high-tech radar to its Home island outposts.
Photo: Passive radar in Penghu
The Republic of China military has accidentally leaked a secret – it hints at how Taipei plans to defend itself against the Communist Party’s highest-tech warplanes in the event of a cross-strait war.
Taiwan‘s state-run Youth Daily published a photo this week showing a Republic of China Navy landing ship unloading a secret truck-mounted radar system in a port on the Penghu island group — a system apparently optimized by Taiwan to detect the Communist Party’s J-20 stealth fighter jet.
The photos quickly disappeared from the Youth Daily website, but not before the military aviation news blog Alert 5 (Alert Fivet) had taken screenshots of them.
Ian Easton, senior director of the Project 2049 Institute think tank in Virginia, said, “Nice job (on the screenshots)!” . “For Taiwan, there is a lot at stake in deploying a mobile, vehicle-mounted radar capable of tracking stealth aircraft to Penghu.”
The images appear to depict a modified version of a passive radar system that was developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology for the national army.
The passive radar does not emit electromagnetic waves; instead, it detects reflected radar signals from different transmitters. Because it does not transmit itself, passive radar is difficult to locate. And if enemy planners do not know that such a radar has been deployed in the area, they may not plan routes for low-detectability fighters (stealth fighters) to minimize their electromagnetic signature.
In other words, passive radar can help set traps for radar-avoiding aircraft. Taiwan has apparently placed new passive radars on Penghu, a strong indication that Taipei is thinking ahead about how it can get a head start on Beijing‘s J-20, which so far is the only stealth aircraft in the Communist Air Force.
“This radar could greatly improve early warning capabilities,” Easton said.
The Penghu Islands consist of 90 small islands, 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) from the main island of Taiwan. It is one of the biggest obstacles facing a possible Chinese Communist invasion fleet.
Taiwanese forces on the Pescadores are equipped with long-range radar, Xiongfeng II anti-ship cruise missiles and Tianbao III surface-to-air missiles. 60,000 troops are permanently stationed in the islands, including an army brigade with 70 upgraded M-60 tanks and an artillery battalion.
In nearby waters, the Taiwan Navy routinely deploys a guided missile destroyer. At the Penghu airfield, the Taiwanese Air Force deploys a flexible training of indigenous defense fighters.
The deployment of passive radar in Penghu is also justified. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Chinese Communist Air Force plans to deploy its small but growing fleet of twin-engine J-20s early in the conflict to punch holes in Taiwan’s air and ground defenses and to allow non-stealth fighters to operate more freely.
A passive radar hidden somewhere in Penghu could provide Taiwanese forces with proper warning of approaching J-20s – perhaps giving air defense batteries and fighter squadrons the opportunity to shoot down stealth aircraft.
“Without these types of eyes and ears, the Chinese Communist Party could choose to strike Taiwan’s political and military leadership with a zero-warning decapitation strike,” Easton explained.” This is one of the most dangerous threats to the country’s survival, so the more early warning sensors Taiwan deploys, the safer it will be.”
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