December 28, 2010:
The Taiwanese government gave the media a tour of one of its anti-ship missile bases recently. This one must have been previously discovered by a Chinese spy, because it was built to look like a vacation home up in the mountains. But inside the "villa", it's all missile launching base. There is equipment for moving the shipping/firing containers the 685 (1,507 pound) Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles are stored in. The 4.8 meter (14.9 feet) long and 400mm diameter missiles are similar in size to the American Harpoon. With a range of 160 kilometers and a 180 kg (400 pound) warhead, they are a threat to any Chinese warship within reach. In production since 2005, new models (Hsiung Feng IIF and III) are entering service, and longer range cruise missile versions have also been developed.