Taiwan is developing missiles that can attack enemy air bases and bring down cruise missiles, and drones that can target their firing locations, a report by the military-owned body making the weapons said.
Taiwan last year approved NT$240 billion (US$8.2 billion) in extra military spending over the next five years as tensions with China have hit a new high and Chinese military planes have repeatedly flown through Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
Taiwan plans to more than double its annual missile production capacity to close to 500 this year, the Ministry of National Defense said last month, as it boosts its combat power.
Photo: Lo Tien-pin, Taipei Times
In a report to the Legislative Yuan this week, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology offered more details of what the missiles and drones it is developing could do in a war.
The Hsiung Sheng land-attack missile, which experts say could have a range of up to 1,000km, comes in two versions: one with a high-explosive warhead to hit bunkers and hardened command centers, and the other with “dispersal” munitions to take out airfield facilities, it said.
Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Taipei-based National Policy Foundation, said the Hsiung Sheng could reach most bases under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, including those near Shanghai and the province of Zhejiang.
“It could greatly boost the national army’s capacity to delay or paralyze the communist forces’ pace of an invasion of Taiwan, making it hard for them to achieve a rapid war,” he said.
The advanced Sky Bow III surface-to-air missile is designed to take down ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as fighter jets.
Taiwan’s plans predate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the war has prompted conversations about the lessons Taiwan could apply to fighting off a Chinese attack, including how Ukraine has resisted a numerically superior force.
One Taiwan-based Western security source said that although Taiwan was getting gear such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the US, its own missile program would help ensure the country would not have to rely on foreign supplies, as Ukraine has.
“It’s a hedging strategy,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The institute said that drones, which Ukraine has used to great effect against Russia’s military, could attack enemy missile launch sites or act as decoys to help pinpoint enemy radars.
Four new facilities, including bases and repair plants, would be built by 2025 for the new drones, it said.
The ministry has previously announced plans to start manufacturing unspecified “attack drones,” with an annual production target of 48 such aircraft.
Little has been disclosed about the domestically produced drones. The first batch of US-made MQ-9 Reaper drones, which can be armed with missiles and operate at long range, is to enter service by 2025, the ministry said last month.
About 64 percent of Taiwan’s extra military spending, which came on top of planned military spending of NT$471.7 billion for next year, is to be spent on anti-ship weapons, such as land-based missile systems, including a NT$148.9 billion plan to mass produce homegrown missiles and “high-performance” ships.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
RSS