Taiwan plans to buy eight second-hand Perry-class frigates from the United States despite improved ties with its once-bitter foe China, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The island hopes to arm them with a version of the advanced Aegis Combat System, which uses computers and radar to take out multiple targets, as well as sophisticated missile launch technology, the Taipei-based China Times said.
This is good. Taiwan's navy is actually pretty good compared to China's. But with the balance of power in the air over the strait tilting to China, I don't think it would be wise for Taiwan to send anything but small combatants and submarines into the Taiwan Strait to directly take on a Chinese invasion attempt. Big ships will just die under air attack without friendly air cover.
The Perry class frigates, and other larger combatants should (if they survive a D-Day Pearl Harbor attack) operate east of Taiwan, I think. There, they'd fight any attempt by China to blockade Taiwan and hopefully clear the sea lines of communication so that American and Japanese support can arrive more quickly.
