Thursday, January 16, 2014

32. 257. Whatever

Taiwan is getting 32 Harpoon missiles to equip their two aging but operational subs. If China attempts to invade Taiwan, I fully expect hundreds of Taiwanese sub-launched Harpoon missiles to head for the invasion fleets.

This is good news:

In late 2013 Taiwan began receiving the 32 American Harpoon submarine launched anti-ship missiles it first sought back in 2005.

Finally.

Why? Because getting any number of missiles in Taiwan's arsenal provides a convenient cover story:

If the Chinese try to invade Taiwan and at least one Taiwanese sub makes it to sea, then if Harpoons start smashing into Chinese ships, we can openly marvel at the storage capacity of the Dutch-built boat. I mean, some people might speculate that American subs are launching them, too, but that would be idle speculation best left for historians to examine decades after the Taiwanese fend off the invasion attempt.

Now we just have to get the Taiwanese new subs. It would really be nice if the Taiwanese could launch hundreds of sub-launched missiles at the Chinese navy.