The Ministry of National Defense is proposing a special budget totaling NT$200 billion (US$7.14 billion) to boost the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s missile manufacturing capabilities, a source said.
The military hopes that the institute can use the funds to expedite the mass production of missiles with precision and long-range capabilities, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They said that the budget is in line with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) instructions when visiting the institute in January 2019 to increase production of Tien Kung III (“Sky Bow III”) and Hsiung Feng III (“Brave Wind III”) missiles.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
Missiles developed in Taiwan that are fielded by the military have a range of 250km to 600km, including the surface-to-surface Hsiung Feng II-E, the Sky Bow II-B and the Wan Chien air-to-ground cruise missile.
The military uses these missiles to complement its Patriot-III systems and Harpoon anti-ship missiles to provide anti-air and anti-surface capabilities, the source said.
The institute is developing an air-launched version of the mid-range supersonic Hsiung Feng III, a hypersonic missile program that has not yet been named, a Sky Bow III missile with augmented range and a mid-range air-launched cruise missile program under the name Yun Feng, the source said.
There are plans to extend the Hsiung Feng II-E to a range of 1,200km, while the Yun Feng (雲峰) missile is expected to have a range of more than 2,000km, they said.
Institute deputy director Leng Chin-hsu (冷金緒) in March said the institute had one land-based missile ready for mass production and three projects under development.
The institute recently held multiple tests trialing a missile’s maximum or “infinite” altitude, indicating that it might be testing a new missile, the source said.
The land-based missile ready for mass production is the Hsiung Feng II-E missile: the basic version with a range of 600km and the surface-to-surface cruise missile version with a range of 1,000km, they said.
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