The above image is the cover of a Ministry of National Defense Powerpoint presentation about the phase-out plan for major weapon systems currently used by the Taiwan military. The presentation was used in a press conference and then posted on the MND website on April 10. But when a legislator asked the MND for information on the phase-out plan, what he obtained was essentially the same document, marked Classified until April 13, 2017. An MND spokesperson later explained that this was due to miscommunications between MND’s departments and no classifiled materials had been leaked.
I am not sure how long the MND is going to keep the presentation available on its website. Anyway, I downloaded the three .ppt files the next day they were posted, before the legislator got his “Classified” document, and here they are:
Part 1
Part 2 (More than 3Mbytes!)
Part 3
It is worth noting that the MND planned to phase out the C-130H from 2009 to 2016 and replace them with “mid-size transport aircraft”. ROCAF’s oldest C-130 entered service in 1986; so they will be at most 30 years old when they are retired. But the newest ones will not even reach 20 years in 2016. Many 40-year-plus-old C-130 in the USAF are still flying now. I don’t understand the ratioinale behind the proposed phase-out.