Navy investigating crashed drone
ROC Central News Agency
2012/07/09 22:23:38
Taipei, July 9 (CNA) The Navy said late Monday that it is investigating a target drone that crashed into the ground in the eastern county of Taitung earlier in the day during a major live-fire missile drill.
After a preliminary investigation, the Navy confirmed that the drone was launched to serve as a missile target in the military exercise, which was held at Jioupeng military base in neighboring Pingtung County.
The Navy also said in a statement that it has helped repair the road where the crashed drone created a large hole.
"Related agencies are now probing the cause of the crash," it added.
The Navy also apologized to local citizens for the inconvenience caused by the incident.
Another unrelated mishap during the drill came when the Hsiung-Feng II anti-ship missile failed to hit its intended target, and the Navy said it was working with the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, the developer of the missile, to identify the cause.
The institute is the Ministry of National Defense's main research and development unit.
Including the launches of 14 missiles and the use of 12 laser-guided bombs, the live-fire exercise cost roughly NT$170 million (US$5.67 million).
The joint missile test in Pingtung incorporated members of the Air Force, Navy and Army.
(By Elaine Hou and Chen Pei-huang)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
