Taiwan Announces Hsiung Feng III Is For Sinking Chinese Carriers

     Defense News reports that Taiwan designed the Hsiung Feng III for attacking aircraft carriers, specifically the ones operated by China. 

      The painting above was displayed at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition showing the Varyag being hit by 3 Hsiung Feng 3 cruise missiles. This extremely unusual for the Taiwanese, as they usually don't explicitly say that China is the enemy. Thus, this drawing is essentially saying that Taiwan is not afraid of China, and that if attacked could inflict serious casulties on the Chinese.

     Another interesting aspect of this picture is that in the extreme left there is another ship which looks like an aircraft carrier, due to the fact that the superstructure is amidships, and on the port side, similar to an aircraft carrier. If this is an aircraft carrier, it appears to be of similar size to the Varyag, and possibly of the same design. There are reports that China is building at least 2 other carriers, with at least 2 more on the drawing board, as was mentioned here a few days ago.

     With the Varyag entering sea trials, it will be interesting to see how the Taiwanese react to having a Chinese aircraft carrier on their front door.

     

Photo Credit: Wall Street Journal, Wendell Minnick