Missiles off target in major Taiwan drill

aiwan held a major missile drill Tuesday just days after rival China unveiled an aircraft that uses stealth technology, but several misses spoiled the exercise.

Before an audience that included President Ma Ying-jeou, five out of 19 missiles failed to hit their targets at the Chiupeng military base in the island's south. A sixth found its target, but did not explode.

"It's within our predictions, but of course there's room for improvement," said air force Lieutenant General Pan Kung-hsiao, when asked to comment about the missiles that went astray.

Ma, however, was less forgiving, telling journalists that the military should get to the bottom of the failures.

"I'm not very satisfied," Ma said. "Some missiles missed the targets, and we need to review whether these errors were mechanical or human. We also need to hold more drills to boost military capabilities."

While one missile plunged almost directly into the nearby ocean, the others were near-misses, and some of them virtually scratched their targets but were still declared failures.read more