History
CSIST was established by the Republic of China government in 1969 to serve as a military R&D and systems integration center Early work includes various missile and radar systems, as well as systems integration for ROC military aircraft and ships.
The institute was involved in attempts nuclear weapons programs during the Cold War. In 1967, a nuclear weapons program began under the auspices of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) of CIST. After the International Atomic Energy Agency found evidence of the ROC's efforts to produce weapons-grade plutonium, Taipei agreed in September 1976 under U.S. pressure to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Though the nuclear reactor was soon shut down and the plutonium mostly returned to the U.S., a secret program was revealed when Colonel Chang, Hsien-yi, deputy director of nuclear research at INER, defected to the U.S. in December 1987 and produced a cache of incriminating documents.Presently there is no claim any nuclear weapons program is being pursued.
The Institute expanded to the development of dual use technology in 1994. With the expansion of Taiwan's civilian space program, CSIST has also become involved in design of various satellite and launch systems, the latter of which have consisted primarily of scientific rockets to study the ionosphere.
Read more about this topic: Chungshan Institute Of Science And Technology
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