Navy unclear why mistakenly fired missile did not self-destruct
ROC Central News Agency
2016/07/01 20:49:54
Taipei, July 1 (CNA) The Navy will investigate why the self-destruct mechanism of a missile that was fired by mistake Friday morning was not activated before hitting a fishing boat, said Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹).
At a press conference Friday, Mei said the missile was designed to have a self-destruct mechanism that would be triggered when the missile veers off course.
But when asked why it was not activated during the two minutes the missile was airborne, Mei indicated the Navy was wondering the same thing and said part of the investigation on the incident would \ focus on that question.
The locally developed anti-ship missile, Hsiung Feng III, was accidentally launched from one of the Navy's 500-ton Chinchiang-class corvettes from Zuoying Military Harbor in Kaohsiung at 8:15 a.m. Friday during a drill.
It hit the fishing boat "Hsiang Li Sheng" (翔利昇), which was an estimated 40 nautical miles from the harbor in southern Taiwan, about two minutes later, according to the Navy.
A chart provided by the Navy showed that the simulated position targeted by the missile was in the Taiwan Strait, northwest of the harbor and southeast of the offshore county of Penghu.
The missile ripped through the fishing boat, causing the captain's death, but it did not immediately explode or cause the vessel to break up. The three other crewmen on the boat were injured but were released from a hospital in Tainan after being treated.
Asked why the missile did not explode when it hit the boat, Mei explained that the missile was equipped with a delayed detonation mechanism.
The missile cut through the fishing boat, Mei said, because it was flying at high speed, and the fishing boat, which was likely designed to be thin and light, provided little resistance.
(By Lu Hsin-hui and Elizabeth Hsu)
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