The military has developed a short-range surface-to-surface missile (SSM) capable of reaching China's coastal provinces but has not acquired the ability to mass produce a medium-range SSM, defense sources said yesterday.
The short-range SSM has been in service since 1996. Its range is 300km, so it does not violate international restrictions on offensive weapons.
The missile was based on the Tien Kung-II air defense missile developed by the Chun Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST). It is a variant of the Tien Kung-II, but almost a totally different system.
A defense source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said during the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, the nation was not totally defenseless against ballistic missile threats from China.
"The SSM was then already deployed but in small numbers. It could be used against certain vital military assets in Fujian Province. But it was limited in number. It could not become an effective deterrent against China," the source said.
"The same is true of the reported development of a medium-range SSM by the CSIST. The institute might have acquired the ability to produce such a missile, but it could not move beyond the prototype stage to mass production," he said.
"The institute has obtained from the US certain key components for the production of a medium-range SSM. But these components are small in number. If the medium-range SSM development project did succeed, less than 10 such missiles could be built," the source said.
A military analyst, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, said he did not know whether there was a medium-range SSM development project but that he was quite sure that quite a number of Taiwan-born scientists now living in the US have visited over the past few years to offer help in the development of an offensive weapon such as the medium-range SSM.
"These scientists did want to teach the military, especially the CSIST, relevant technology. But they were not accepted by the military for a variety of reasons," the analyst said.
"One reason was that the military does not trust people from outside. The institute, for instance, trusts only its own people regardless of the fact that its researchers and technicians might not be as capable as believed," he said.
"Almost all of the self-made products that the institute takes pride in were not developed by its staff. They were based on key components and core technologies bought from abroad. The institute did nothing more than put the parts together to get products similar in many ways to what one could find on the international market," the analyst said.
Before the 2000 presidential election then vice president Lien Chan (連戰) proposed the idea of developing a medium-range SSM. The proposal reminded the public of the military's efforts to develop a 1,000km SSM, codenamed "Tien Ma" (Sky Horse), which was cancelled under pressure from the US.
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