Like many South East Asian countries, Taiwan is rapidly expanding its Coast Guard fleet. Naval News reports progress on their ambitious program. The same day the first of this new class of cutters was delivered, the second of the planned class of four was named and launched.

The class is nominally 4000 tons, but as is frequently the case in Asia, the displacement is understated. These ships are over 5000 tons full load and consequently larger than the Bertholf class National Security Cutters.

The use of a rocket launcher as main armament is unusual. They also have provision for mounting anti-ship cruise missiles. I have more information on these ships in an earlier post.