Parts used in Taiwan’s Hsiung-Feng III anti-ship missile – nicknamed the ‘Carrier Killer’ due to its supersonic speed, range of up to 400km and 225kg warhead – were sent by Swiss company Leica Geosystems to China to make repairs due to malfunctions, according to Taiwan News, which cited a Mirror Media Chinese-language report that said concern had been voiced over the threat of such a move in “potentially exposing sensitive data from missile tests and endangering Taiwan’s national security”.
Connector pins on two Leica theodolites – precision components widely used in aerospace, defence and opto-electronics because they provide “unique telescope optics, which can accurately measure various azimuths (distance in spherical areas) in only 0.5 seconds” were sent for repairs about a year ago after becoming loose, the report said, but many months after they were sent back it was discovered that they devices had been forwarded to Qingdao in China’s Shandong province – a revelation that led to fears that secrets about the missiles “may have been seen by the Chinese military”. However, checks found that “no malicious programmes were implanted”.
Read the full report: Taiwan News.
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